Hundreds of millions of users access Google services through the web, and supporting that traffic requires lots of computers. Google offer great internet services while taking energy use very seriously. That's why, almost a decade ago, Google started to make its computing infrastructure as sustainable as possible. Today they are operating one of the world's most efficient data centers network.Google-designed data centers use considerably less energy - both for the servers and the facility itself - than a typical data center. As a result, the energy used per Google search is minimal. In fact, in the time it takes to do a Google search, your own personal computer will use more energy than Google will use to answer your query.
They design each element of data centers to operate at optimal efficiency, from the servers, storage, and networking equipment to facility power and cooling infrastructure. Continuous measurement of power usage by all these elements lets them monitor the health, operating cost, and relative efficiency of data centers.
But sustainability is about more than electricity, so they have gone beyond just reducing energy consumption. Before the end of 2008 two of all facilities will run on 100% recycled water, and by 2010 they expect recycled water to provide 80% of their total water consumption. They also carefully manage the retirement of servers to ensure that 100% of this material is either reused or recycled.
The whole plan consist of five steps:
- Minimize electricity used by servers
- Reduce the energy used by the data center facilities themselves
- Conserve precious fresh water by using recycled water instead
- Reuse or recycle all electronic equipment that leaves its data centers
- Engage with its peers to advance smarter energy practices
These steps are just a starting point. They are committed to being carbon neutral as a company, and always looking for ways to make the services provided more sustainable.
