Google has never been upfront about its electricity usage, but with all those data centers, its power consumption was expected to be enormous. Apparently, these estimates have been off, way off.


While Google's power consumption dwarfs that of most residences and small businesses, its ranking among other data centers is comparatively low. According to a new report by Jonathan Koomey, Google is responsible for less than 1% of electricity used by data centers worldwide and only 0.01% 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]


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