I’ll Give Up The Car, Just Don’t Take My Google
Mar 30th, 2008 at 8:25 pm by Susie
Something else to feel guilty about - Google:
It is no coincidence that search engine giant Google is building its newest computer center near the Dalles Dam, a huge hydroelectric power plant in Oregon. Buying electricity directly from the plant costs one-fifth as much as Google would be paying in California. Besides, the Columbia River supplies inexpensive water to operate the eight multistory cooling towers designed to handle the waste heat from tens of thousands of computers.
Users are accustomed to the results of their searches appearing on their computer screens almost magically. Calculations have now been performed to determine the share of power consumption that can be attributed to a single Google search. Depending on the initial data, one Google search consumes enough electricity to run an 11-watt, energy-saving lightbulb for 15 minutes to an hour.
As long as Google refuses to release numbers, such calculations will remain only a guessing game. But one thing is certain: In 2006, according to a study commissioned by the German Environment Ministry, Germany’s roughly 50,000 computer centers consumed as much electricity as a nuclear power plant can produce in the same amount of time.
We’re not too happy about it out here - the construction is outsourced, nobody local gets hired before or after, and a bunch of rich geeks move into town and raise the cost of living. Fuck google.
i actually was thinking about posting on the subject of data center power and cooling …