Google has never been upfront about its electricity usage, but with all those data centres, its power consumption was expected to be enormous. Apparently, these estimates have been way off.
While Google’s power consumption dwarfs that of most residences and small businesses, its ranking among other data centres is comparatively low. According to a new report by Jonathan Koomey, Google is responsible for less than 1 per cent of electricity used by data centres worldwide and only 0.01 per cent of total worldwide electricity usage.
These low numbers can be attributed to efficiency in Google’s server infrastructure. For the past several years, Google has kept its eye on alternative energy sources and green technology. It looks like that focus is paying off. [Jonathan Koomey via DataCenter Knowledge]