Google Estimated to Have 900,000 Servers
There is a new server count estimate that puts the number of Google's servers not to far under 1 million.
Based on the estimated electricity use of Google's data centers published by Jon Koomey, Data Center Knowledge believes that Google currently runs about 900,000 servers to power its empire.
Google representatives apparently told Koomey, who publishes an influential annual data center power consumption report for the New York Times, that Google's data centers consumed less than 1 percent of the world's combined data center electricity consumption of about 198.8 billion kWh in 2010. Google's computers could be using somewhere in the neighborhood of 220 MW, which would point about 900,000 servers, Koomey believes. The researcher also noted that Google provisions about 50 MW of available power for its largest data centers, which could indicate that Google is preparing for significant expansion in the future.
“Google’s data center electricity use is about 0.01% of total worldwide electricity use and less than 1% of global data center electricity use in 2010,” Koomey writes in his report. “This result is in part a function of the higher infrastructure efficiency of Google’s facilities compared to in-house data centers, which is consistent with efficiencies of other cloud computing installations, but it also reflects lower electricity use per server for Google’s highly optimized servers.”
Koomey noted that Google's data centers account for about 0.01 percent of total worldwide electricity use.
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Douglas Perry was a freelance writer for Tom's Hardware covering semiconductors, storage technology, quantum computing, and processor power delivery. He has authored several books and is currently an editor for The Oregonian/OregonLive.
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zybch guess they need that much power to consistently serve up search results filled with SEO crap and spam trying to sell me stuff for higher than retail prices which I don't want. Well done.Reply -
alidan dogman_1234I sense a meme joke.Anyways.I would hate to pay the power bill there.Reply
power is i blieve on average 11 cents a kwatt.
so what is (((11x220x1000)/100)x24)x365
its 211,992,000$ -
timvdw If the direct usage is "0.01% of total worldwide electricity use and less than 1% of global data center electricity use in 2010" I wonder what the indirect consumption is for all those people running their PCs to access Google and their SEO and Spam crap being served?Reply -
whysobluepandabear While we're on the topic of electricity, I find it amazing that we have this insane, free energy source, known as the Sun, that we never take advantage of.Reply
Yeah, that giant fusion reaction burning ball gives us 100% free and clean energy. You pay a lot upfront for the infrastructure, but in the very near future you recoup those costs.
And for some reason, I doubt mining coal, paying workers and running plants somehow is more cost effective. Maybe short term, but definitely not long term.
P.s. I live in Vegas. We have like what, 330 days out of the year of pure sunshine. Load up Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, parts of California, Texas and etc....and well....you could seriously just have grids of panels that could power the whole country.
Believe it or not, I'm really not a hippie - I just think it's crazy we haven't immediately jumped on the Suns energy by now. From a business prospective, it looks very promising and lucrative.