[新聞] Powering a Google search

[klarinet (clarinet)]

http://tinyurl.com/7a7p4j

Not long ago, answering a query meant traveling to the reference desk of your
local library. Today, search engines enable us to access immense quantities
of useful information in an instant, without leaving home. Tools like email,
online books and photos, and video chat all increase productivity while
decreasing our reliance on car trips, pulp and paper.

But as computers become a bigger part of more people's lives, information
technology consumes an increasing amount of energy, and Google takes this
impact seriously. That's why we have designed and built the most energy
efficient data centers in the world, which means the energy used per Google
search is minimal. In fact, in the time it takes to do a Google search, your
own personal computer will use more energy than Google uses to answer your
query.

Recently, though, others have used much higher estimates, claiming that a
typical search uses "half the energy as boiling a kettle of water" and
produces 7 grams of CO2. We thought it would be helpful to explain why this
number is *many* times too high. Google is fast — a typical search returns
results in less than 0.2 seconds. Queries vary in degree of difficulty, but
for the average query, the servers it touches each work on it for just a few
thousandths of a second. Together with other work performed before your
search even starts (such as building the search index) this amounts to 0.0003
kWh of energy per search, or 1 kJ. For comparison, the average adult needs
about 8000 kJ a day of energy from food, so a Google search uses just about
the same amount of energy that your body burns in ten seconds.

In terms of greenhouse gases, one Google search is equivalent to about 0.2
grams of CO2. The current EU standard for tailpipe emissions calls for 140
grams of CO2 per kilometer driven, but most cars don't reach that level yet.
Thus, the average car driven for one kilometer (0.6 miles for those of in the
U.S.) produces as many greenhouse gases as a thousand Google searches.

We've made great strides to reduce the energy used by our data centers, but
we still want clean and affordable sources of electricity for the power that
we do use. In 2008 our philanthropic arm, Google.org, invested $45 million in
breakthrough clean energy technologies. And last summer, as part of our
Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal initiative (RE<C), we created an internal
engineering group dedicated to exploring clean energy.

We're also working with other members of the IT community to improve
efficiency on a broader scale. In 2007 we co-founded the Climate Savers
Computing Initiative, a group which champions more efficient computing. This
non-profit consortium is committed to cutting the energy consumed by
computers in half by 2010 — reducing global CO2 emissions by 54 million tons
per year. That's a lot of kettles of tea.

Posted by Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President, Operations

--
記得那一天妳有親自講過
若想跟妳結成夫妻，要有本事先做頭家
我以為那是妳對我的鼓勵
誰知道在民國85年5月20阿輝ㄚ宣示就職那天
全台灣2100萬都是頭家啦，妳共!妳要嫁那一個?妳共阿！妳共阿！妳共阿~~~
                                                                 七仔  文跡奇武

--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 140.127.12.47
推 yphs88:嗯嗯~原來如此
推 tacogary:原來是這樣！
推 bll135:快推不然會被說看不懂英文
推 nolive:嗯嗯~原來如此
→ qqq123455:19763
→ spaz7:PTT爬文不知道會產生多少 XD
推 Fxxxz:認同前半段
推 beachnote:this is not the news...no bagua~
推 adm123:訓練鄉民英文？
簡單說估狗的收尋引擎是最節能的了
搜尋一次菇狗花的能量相當於成人10秒鐘消耗的能量
→ startlequiet:平常鄉民有50%以上一進文章就先看推文 你po英文的不
→ flowerrka:嗯嗯~原來如此
→ startlequiet:不是讓人完全不想看了嘛
推 ninicole:貼英文文章 不知道原PO是想給誰看 裡面也沒甚麼八卦
推 tp65p4w94:Not long ago, -------- , Operations 看完了!感謝分享!
→ beachnote:down floor is daddy Chan~
※ 編輯: klarinet        來自: 140.127.12.47        (01/12 18:17)
→ darkbrigher:《文章篇數》283篇 (優:10/劣:0) 嘖嘖...
→ banbee100:我被startlequiet說中了～
→ beachnote:幹  唬爛 明明就是說你點估狗兩下 排碳量等同煮一壺茶
推 pengseng:Google兩下 排碳量等同煮壺茶  也沒多節能嘛
推 hate56:喔喔 我瞭解了
推 IL12:好文章! 真是精闢