Internet giant Google made an announcement in a blog post that it will run completely on renewable energy as soon as 2017. Considering the volume of data it processes every second, it requires huge amounts of processing power.
In 2011, Google used about 0.013 percent of the world’s energy use which is enough energy to continuously power 200,000 homes. Now the figure might have increased.
The good news for the environment is that Google has been investing in renewable energy for years. Google is the world’s largest corporate buyer of renewable electricity, with commitments reaching 2.6 gigawatts (2,600 megawatts) of wind and solar energy.
In 2017, Google is planning to run all of its offices and data centers on solar or wind energy. Google is not directly powering its facilities with renewable energy, but the company is funding enough projects to offset its massive power demands.
How Google’s renewable energy drive works. (Image courtesy Google)
To share its green energy plans, Google is publishing an Environmental Report that outlines how well they are doing and what their plans are to protect the environment.
Urs Hölzle, Google’s senior vice president for technical infrastructure, explained, “The science tells us that tackling climate change is an urgent global priority. We believe the private sector, in partnership with policy leaders, must take bold steps and that we can do so in a way that leads to growth and opportunity. And we have a responsibility to do so – to our users and the environment. We have lots of progress left to make, but these achievements we’re announcing today feel like a breath of fresh air.”
Jodie Van Horn, a campaigner at the Sierra Club, an environmental group, said: “By transitioning global operations to run entirely on renewable energy, Google is charting a course for other corporations, institutions, cities and communities to take bold action that will create jobs, save money, and protect families from dangerous fossil fuel pollution.”
