Google's data center, from Harper's magazine, March 2008This blueprint depicts Google's data center, code named "02 PROJECT" at The Dalles, Oregon.
Google and its nemesis, Microsoft, Yahoo and Ask.com went there lured by the cheapest electricity in North America. And they need it. They are building gigantic server farms on the banks of the Columbia River.
We tend to think of the internet, the virtual worlds, our email and the "paperless society" as somehow a 'cleaner' option than the legacy of our ancestors. We talk of information and the exchange of ideas, as if these concepts reside on the sphere of intangibles that lead us to a gentler, greener world.
People are slowly realizing that driving their cars and SUV's leave a carbon "footprint" for which we will be hold accountable by generations to come. So we telecommute, we email instead of writing a letter or a note (would we write so much dribble if we had to use pen and ink?) and we search or, using the new verb, we google for information, sometimes for its own sake, the new addiction.
Little do we realize that this new industry is as heavy as they come, and like the article in Harper's 1 mentions: "...an energy glutton that is only growing hungrier." Currently Google is estimated to have in the order of a million servers. According to the article: "...the servers require a half-watt in cooling for every watt they use in processing". Some simple math will yield in the order of 103 megawatts for the Dalles plant alone. As a curious note, the Northwest Aluminum smelter across the street form the data center once used 85 megawatts before falling under soaring energy costs.
If you examine the blueprint above, you will see that 18,800 sq. ft. are devoted to the "cooling towers". Perhaps it will become fashionable again to wear the Top Hats of the 1920's to celebrate the new Information Chimneys of the New Millenium?
The article mentions that in 2006 American data centers "consumed more power than American televisions" and that in all locations currently active or in planning, both in America and Siberia, Shanghai and Dublin where AT&T, Microsoft and Google are heading in search (pun intended) of even cheaper electricity, most of this energy is produced by the burning of fossil fuels. I gives new meaning to the term "cloud computing"
1 The Harper's article "KEYWORD:EVIL, Google's addiction to cheap electricity", which inspired this post, was written by Ginger Strand, author of Inventing Niagara: Beauty, Power and Lies, to be published this spring by Simon & Schuster
Google and its nemesis, Microsoft, Yahoo and Ask.com went there lured by the cheapest electricity in North America. And they need it. They are building gigantic server farms on the banks of the Columbia River.
We tend to think of the internet, the virtual worlds, our email and the "paperless society" as somehow a 'cleaner' option than the legacy of our ancestors. We talk of information and the exchange of ideas, as if these concepts reside on the sphere of intangibles that lead us to a gentler, greener world.
People are slowly realizing that driving their cars and SUV's leave a carbon "footprint" for which we will be hold accountable by generations to come. So we telecommute, we email instead of writing a letter or a note (would we write so much dribble if we had to use pen and ink?) and we search or, using the new verb, we google for information, sometimes for its own sake, the new addiction.
Little do we realize that this new industry is as heavy as they come, and like the article in Harper's 1 mentions: "...an energy glutton that is only growing hungrier." Currently Google is estimated to have in the order of a million servers. According to the article: "...the servers require a half-watt in cooling for every watt they use in processing". Some simple math will yield in the order of 103 megawatts for the Dalles plant alone. As a curious note, the Northwest Aluminum smelter across the street form the data center once used 85 megawatts before falling under soaring energy costs.
If you examine the blueprint above, you will see that 18,800 sq. ft. are devoted to the "cooling towers". Perhaps it will become fashionable again to wear the Top Hats of the 1920's to celebrate the new Information Chimneys of the New Millenium?
Can you identify the gentleman in the picture?
C'mon, I'll buy pizza for the first to name him!
And the winner is...Takumi! Choose your toppings (**>
While you are at it, look at the building on the upper right corner and you will see a suggestive label: "Transient Employee Dormitory Building". As with all things digital, employees are simply bits and blips in the flow of the new oil. And the "carbon footprint" is not pretty.C'mon, I'll buy pizza for the first to name him!
And the winner is...Takumi! Choose your toppings (**>The article mentions that in 2006 American data centers "consumed more power than American televisions" and that in all locations currently active or in planning, both in America and Siberia, Shanghai and Dublin where AT&T, Microsoft and Google are heading in search (pun intended) of even cheaper electricity, most of this energy is produced by the burning of fossil fuels. I gives new meaning to the term "cloud computing"
1 The Harper's article "KEYWORD:EVIL, Google's addiction to cheap electricity", which inspired this post, was written by Ginger Strand, author of Inventing Niagara: Beauty, Power and Lies, to be published this spring by Simon & Schuster
3 comments:
Take a look at this blog post detailing the amount of power saving google would do if it switches to a black screen rather than a white screen.
http://ecoiron.blogspot.com/2007/01/black-google-would-save-3000-megawatts.html
Eric Schmidt. Chairman of the Board and CEO of Google.
Interesting to know that Google is based along the Columbia River near the Bonneville Dam. I wonder if the windsurfing capital, The Dalles, has started looking into wind farming versus hydroelectric power. (Grew up in Oregon).
Also, it's of concern that as technology improves, old equipment and parts often hit the landfills. Finally, I have noticed some recycling efforts including here in Gainesville attempting to limit the amount of technology waste. I had no idea what to do with a 4GB hard drive from my mid 90's computer when we can buy 4GB flash cards and drives for less than $50 and fitting into one's pocket. With hard drives costing around $.25/GB, there is a lot of waste.
Another interesting note is that countercurrent of thought suggesting our global issues are cyclical rather than a result of our actions. At the beginning of March, the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change will take place in NYC. To quote their home page, "Hundreds of scientists, economists, and public policy experts from around the world will gather ..... to call attention to widespread dissent in the scientific community to the alleged “consensus” that the modern warming is primarily man-made and is a crisis."
To read more:
http://www.heartland.org/NewYork08/newyork08.cfm
I don't know why it won't let me hyperlink the URL above. Maybe because I am responding? I know I can link if I'm posting a new topic.
If you believe this is true you can use blackle.com which is a black version. I believe the power numbers are only even close to true if everyone was using CRT's instead of LCD's. So if you have an LCD it makes no difference.
I think in general our switch to e-life is cleaner for the environment, especially in the long run. We will continually come up with more efficient and less harmful ways to produce electricity. Technology can only go so far in helping to grow trees faster.
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