Interesting feature in the March issue of Harper’s if you missed it: Google’s server farms use a heckuva lot of energy. A planned server farm in The Dalles, Ore. will probably use 103 megawatts of mega-hydro electrons, enough to power 82,000 homes, according to the author, Ginger Strand. Server farms used more power than TVs in the U.S. in 2006, and this may increase as other search firms gear up to battle Google. Of course, the proliferation of flat-screen energy hogs since then may level that playing field …
But the point here is that internet search isn’t impact-free, and Google’s good efforts to develop the renewable industry through grants and investments might be better viewed as more of an offset for its own impacts.
