what’s the carbon footprint of your google search, from cnet:
A Harvard University physicist says a typical search on a desktop computer generates about 7 grams of carbon dioxide. Thus, performing two searches is comparable to bringing a kettle to boil, according to a report Sunday in The Times of London. While that may not sound like a lot, the report notes that Google handles about 200 million searches daily.
scary stuff. fortunately (or even more scary?) google is researching offshore floating data centers that will use the wave motion of the seas to power their servers.
Google has filed a patent for a “water-based data center” that uses the ocean to provide power and cooling. The patent also confirms Google’s development of a container-based data center, describing “crane-removable modules” to power the computing platforms.
[thanks colonel balernal]
Related Reading:
Related posts:
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2009/01/12/the-carbon-calculus-of-google-data-centers/
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/12/revealed-the-times-made-up-that-stuff-about-google-and-the-tea-kettles/