Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Cloud
    • Cloud

    Google Says Renewable Energy Purchases Exceeded Consumption In 2017

    By
    Jaikumar Vijayan
    -
    April 6, 2018
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      Google Renewable Energy Purchases

      As a company that operates multiple hyperscale data centers around the world Google has been on a mission in recent years to cut down on its energy consumption and carbon footprint. 

      For the first time since the effort began, Google purchased in 2017 enough energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar to exceed the total amount of energy consumed by its data centers around the world. 

      For each kilowatt-hour of energy that Google consumed—from renewable and non-renewable sources combined—the company purchased a matching amount or more of renewable energy from a wind or solar farm. 

      To be clear, Google datacenters continued—and will likely continue for some time—to be powered by energy from both non-renewable and renewable sources. But for every kilowatt-hour it consumes Google has started adding a matching kilowatt-hour or more of renewable energy to a power grid somewhere. 

      Currently, Google signed contracts to purchase a total 3 gigawatts of power from renewable sources making it the biggest corporate purchaser of renewable energy, Google’s senior vice president of technical infrastructure Urs Holzle claimed in a blog April 4. 

      “No corporate purchaser buys more renewable energy than we do,” Holzle said. “To date, our renewable energy contracts have led to over $3 billion in new capital investment around the world.” 

      Starting with a 2010 agreement to buy all electricity from a 114-megawatt wind farm in Iowa, Google has over the years entered into several long-term renewable energy purchase contracts with entities in several countries. The company’s 20 renewable energy projects are spread across the U.S., South America and Europe. Google’s commitment to buy a total of 3GW of wind and solar sourced energy is larger than many major utilities, Holzle has previously pointed out. 

      In addition to sourcing energy from renewable sources Google has taken other measures in recent years to reduce its carbon footprint. The company has said it eventually wants all of its data centers to be powered exclusively by renewable energy. Many of the new data centers it is building around the world include the use of alternative cooling approaching such as seawater cooling and evaporative cooling. 

      Google has also committed to exploring the use of artificial intelligence technology to identify opportunities for reducing data center energy usage. Under this effort, the company is developing models for efficient energy use in its data centers using historical data gathered from temperature sensors, pumps and other data center equipment. Over the years, the efforts have resulted in Google’s data centers being 50 percent more power efficient than data centers of comparable size, according to the company. 

      Google is certainly not alone in its efforts to go green. Amazon too has committed to using 100 percent renewable energy over the next few years. Like Google it has invested in several solar and wind farms that together have the capacity to deliver 2.6GW of energy annually to the grid powering Amazon’s massive data centers across the U.S. 

      Microsoft, another of Google’s cloud rivals has committed to ensuring that 50 percent of the energy used by its data centers by the end of this year will be from renewable sources. The company has said it hopes to raise that mark to 60 percent early in the next decade. 

      Jaikumar Vijayan
      Vijayan is an award-winning independent journalist and tech content creation specialist covering data security and privacy, business intelligence, big data and data analytics.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×