Data centers: The new global landfill?

Authored by Ron Bianchini, a blog article at Wired.com asks the question: "Are data centers really just the new global landfill?" The blog cites the following statistics:

"According to Emerson Network Power, there are 509,147 data centers worldwide with 285.8 million square feet of space. In more familiar terms, there’s enough data center space in the world to fit 5,955 football fields -- or landfills, with landfills being a more appropriate analogy in this case. Here are a few more stats that paint the current picture: Nationwide, in 2010 alone, data centers used about 76 billion kilowatt-hours, or roughly 2 percent of all electricity used in the US that year. It’s worth noting that all of that energy is mostly used to power idle servers. [Additionally], Gartner found that typical data center utilizations ran from 7 – 12 percent. Meaning, about 76 billion kilowatt-hours is powering only 7-12% of useful information."

Read the full blog here.

See also: Emerson unveils data center energy consumption e-book, calculator