Googled anything lately? I'm always amazed by how simple and user friendly the Google search engine is. The Google web site is famous for its basic, almost bland interface. After all, you don't want to be overwhelmed by a lot of fancy buttons that you don't need. At the very least you want a query box and a search button. O.K. the Google site has a lot more than that, but not so you'd notice if you weren't looking. So, it's not surprising that many of us forget that behind that minimalist search page is a veritable powerhouse of computing might.
The New York Times estimated in 2006 that Google had, at that time, more than 450,000 servers spread over more than 20 data centers worldwide. With each server using enough power to "beat the band" 24/7, as they say in Dublinese. that's one heck of an electricity bill in anyone's language. And it's not just the power consumed by the server as it feverishly trawls through the web in search of your next muffin recipe. Servers produce a lot of heat, much more than your desktop PC. To prevent overheating, they've got to be constantly cooled by a variety of power thirsty methods.
According to a 2005 study (pdf) by Stanford University consulting professor Jonathan Koomey, the energy consumption of data centers doubled in the period from 2000 to 2005. The annual worldwide power bill for the servers at the time was estimated at over $7 billion. With energy prices rising throughout the world it's no wonder that Google has been looking at ways to slash their power costs. However, nobody realised just how far Google was prepared to go in its search for a greener search engine. Seven miles off-shore.
Early in 2007, Google filed a patent for a Water-Based Data Center. Located up to seven miles off-shore on floating barges, the entire data center would be powered by renewable wave energy using Pelamis wave energy converter units. The Pelamis units use the motion of the ocean surface to generate electricity and can be combined to form wave farms. Google's patent outlines plans to combine over 40 such units into a 40 megawatt wave farm.
Google state in the patent application that: "Computing centers are located on a ship or ships, anchored in a water body from which energy from natural motion of the water may be captured, and turned into electricity..." The patent also describes how energy requirements could be reduced further still by using the relatively cold ocean waters to cool the server farm in place of wasteful and polluting electrical and chemical cooling methods. Sea-powered pumps would be used to draw in seawater and pass it into seawater-to-freshwater heat exchangers.
The floating data centers would be completely autonomous and energy self-sufficient. This level of self-sufficiency would make them immune to land-based power outages. They would need to connect to other Google data centers through high bandwidth undersea telecommunication cables. Google has already invested vast amounts of money in developing such high bandwidth underwater communications, perhaps in preparation for this project.
Google is only one in a long line of companies that are starting to visualise the hard cash benefits of going green. As well as saving energy and money, and helping to reduce their carbon footprint Google is also likely to reap some tax benefits from locating part of their business, literally off-shore.
