Google Release Electricity Usage Statistics

Google recently released information regarding electricity consumption of their data centers. A massive amount of electricity is used by the data centers - enough to continuously power 200,000 homes. That amount of power is more than what would be used by Salt Lake City, which causes one to wonder if regulations should be put in place considering the current energy crisis. Google claims that they are actually making a greener planet by using this energy. Their logic is that if a person does a Google search for information instead of driving to the library, the overall amount of energy consumed is less since an online search can be performed almost instantly.

Google claims to work hard to reduce the amount of energy used. Their goal is to use as little energy as possible, and a total carbon footprint can be seen on the Google Green site.

However, the company shows no signs of slowing down the production of new data centers, and as recent as 2007 there was a $600 million data center contracted in South Carolina. This is the most recent addition to a few other data centers Google has in the Carolinas, and while many new jobs will be created with the construction of each new data center, it also creates another burden on an already strained electrical grid.

One possible solution is investing in windmills. Google has already invested in two wind farms, which generate 169.5 megawatts of power, enough to power more than 55,000 homes. I think this is a good start toward balancing out the carbon footprint created by the electricity consumption of the data centers, but instating government regulations shouldn't be ruled out.

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