Google Energy

What I learned today from Mobile Applications class.

Did you know that Google is the largest consumer of energy in California? A California is the largest consumer of energy in the United States. Taking into account that Google produces absolutely nothing (I mean tangible products) – no machines, no metal, plastic or any equipment, whatever. Nothing. All the energy is spent on huge databases, as well as their maintenance (for cooling, in general). The amount of energy used by Google alone is enough to connect a small town from 100 to 200 thousand people. That is, Google is spending a little less energy than the entire population of Angarsk (my hometown), including all the shops, lighting of houses, streets and so on. All this just for the sake of googling the best cat videos =)

By the way, speaking about video – if you stream YouTube video for three days, you use the same amount of energy as is enough for production, packaging and transportation of the real DVD to your apartment. Given the number of people who watch online videos every day – it is hardto imagine how many DVDs could be already delivered to different corners of the planet.

Another example – 100 queries in Google spend the same amount of energy as 1-hour work of 60-watt bulb.

It is always interesting to look at things from a different angle, isn’t it?