The internet's increasing appetite for electricity poses a major threat to companies such as Google, according to scientists and industry executives. Leading figures have told the Guardian that many internet companies are struggling to manage the costs of delivering billions of web pages, videos and files online - in a "perfect storm" that could even threaten the future of the internet itself.
Leading figures have told the Guardian that many internet companies are struggling to manage the costs of delivering billions of web pages, videos and files online - in a "perfect storm" that could even threaten the future of the internet itself.
And while the demand for electricity is a primary concern, a secondary result of the explosion of internet use is that the computer industry's carbon debt is increasing drastically. From having a relatively small impact just a few years ago, it is now leapfrogging other sectors like the airline industry that are more widely known for their negative environmental impact.
The Dalles (a), pop. 13,000
(2005) If initial development plans go forward, the project would create between 50 and 100 jobs over a matter of time, earning an estimated average of $60,000 annually in wages and benefits - twice the county average income, according to terms in the agreements.
The Dalles (b), 3 shift FTEs plus Overseers in the ice box
(2008) According to Steve Weiss, a senior policy associate at the Northwest Energy Coalition, Google is probably paying about $219,000 for each megawatt per year. The market rate for that [municipal-owned] power is at least twice that--$500,000. Taking Google's use of power over the course of a year, Google is saving almost $8.5 million a year in electricity costs--a tab Weiss claims is picked up by other power customers who don't get the preferred rate. As Weiss puts it, this amounts to a $42,000-a-year annual subsidy for each of the 200 jobs that Google has created in The Dalles. In addition to the promise of cheap power, Google received a 15-year property tax exemption for improvements it made on its 30-plus acres of land. Patchett said Google spent $600 million on the buildout--which would suggest a property tax savings of at least $9 million a year. "Without the tax-exemption program, they wouldn't have considered building in The Dalles," said Dan Durow, community development director for the city. There is at least one string attached: Google must pay its 200 employees an average salary of $42,600, or 150 percent of the county average, which was $28,395 in 2006, according to Durow. The company has five years to certify those employment figures, he added, which it has not done yet. I talked to two workers at Google who wouldn't say how much they were paid, but indicated it was much less than $42,600 a year.
In addition to the promise of cheap power, Google received a 15-year property tax exemption for improvements it made on its 30-plus acres of land. Patchett said Google spent $600 million on the buildout--which would suggest a property tax savings of at least $9 million a year.
"Without the tax-exemption program, they wouldn't have considered building in The Dalles," said Dan Durow, community development director for the city. There is at least one string attached: Google must pay its 200 employees an average salary of $42,600, or 150 percent of the county average, which was $28,395 in 2006, according to Durow. The company has five years to certify those employment figures, he added, which it has not done yet. I talked to two workers at Google who wouldn't say how much they were paid, but indicated it was much less than $42,600 a year.
2007 subsidizing ISPs, misallocating muni resources elsewhere
Microsoft is building a new data center on 74 acres in the town of Quincy in central Washington. ... Power and fiber is provided by Grant County, one of a few counties near the Columbia River with its own hydroelectric dam and fiber networks. Unlike big cities and existing hubs of activity these counties are special economic zones with tax incentives for research and development spending. Microsoft's new data center is over 8 times the size of 365 Main, a large data center in San Francisco housing companies such as Technorati. It's a little less than three football fields full of server racks drawing a power equivalent of about 50,000 homes. Electricity rates from these county-owned power grids are over 8 times cheaper than you might pay to plug-in your computer at home.
Microsoft's new data center is over 8 times the size of 365 Main, a large data center in San Francisco housing companies such as Technorati. It's a little less than three football fields full of server racks drawing a power equivalent of about 50,000 homes. Electricity rates from these county-owned power grids are over 8 times cheaper than you might pay to plug-in your computer at home.
a different kind of hog factory farm, North Carolina
(Dec 2008) The Silicon Valley Internet giant never finalized a deal by which it would recoup up to $4.8 million in state taxes if it met job-creation and other targets at the Lenoir facility. In the letter, a company attorney told a state incentives committee that it no longer wants the money or the commitments that would go with it.
April 2009
Google came to the area two years ago [2007], saying it would invest $600 million and create 200 jobs. The Internet search giant plans to build another server farm near Columbia. It's unclear when work will begin.
The need for cheap energy is not the stuff of economic recovery. It's a new racket in the old game of corporate ultimata. Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
It's a smallish, boring town of 7000 inhabitants on the south coast, East from Helsinki. The town was named after the Queen Consort of some Swedish king. Boring, boring. Nothing to do, nowhere to go.
Coincidentally, Loviisa is the site of 2 x 488 MW PWR nuclear reactors ;-) You can't be me, I'm taken
