Google, data centers using less power than expected

Data centers have been using less electricity than you think ... or at least, compared with what they have in the past.

According to a study by Jonathan Koomey, a consulting professor at Stanford and a climate and energy researcher, data center energy use in the last five years rose only about 56 percent vs. doubling in the period between 2000 and 2005. And in the U.S., it rose only 36 percent instead of doubling.

Electricity used in global data centers in 2010 accounted for between 1.1 percent and 1.5 percent of total electricity use, the Koomey study found. For the U.S. that number was between 1.7 and 2.2 percent. Read more...