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Rifayat Ahmed
November 6, 2009
ENGL302-B21
Sustainability Policies in Google
Sustainability seeks to provide both humans and the environment with the best outcomes now and into an indefinite future. Sustainability in a general sense is the capacity to endure. Being able to achieve sustainability will allow the Earth to continue to support life as we know it. There are now numerous scientific studies that show humans are living a very unsustainable pattern that threatens both people and the environment. To be more precise the companies that produce goods and services have become a greater threat to sustainability than a single individual because now companies are grouping people together and have created machines that harm the ability for Earth to achieve sustainability. Google in particular is one of those companies that are doing the complete opposite of most other companies. They seek to grow as company while minimizing their impact on the environment at the same time, whereas most other companies grow in size and create a bigger negative impact on the environment. Google today is one of the most recognizable companies that are taking the right steps to create sustainable future both for people and the environment while maintaining a growing business.
According to Keefe (2008) in the Divine Caroline, “When it comes to searching for ways to help the environment and reduce energy costs few companies are looking as hard as Google Inc.” In the past few years Google has created one of the largest solar power arrays on the roof tops of its corporate headquarters, which is otherwise known as the Googleplex. Google installed 9,212 photovoltaic panels to supply 1.6 megawatts of electricity.The amount of electricity produced is about 30% of the energy required to operate justover twenty building at Googleplex located in Mountain View, California.It is estimated that the solar panel project Google has invested in is set to pay for itself in seven years through the electricity produced (Laumer, 2007). Google along with its non-profit organization, Google.org, came together set aside $10 million to speed up the development of plug-in electric cars. Google has also invested $20 million in various wind and solar companies. Google has gone as far as creating a new position to its company titled as “Chief Sustainability Officer”, which has been filled by Robyn Beavers (Keefe, 2008).
Figure 1: Googleplex's roof top solar panels (Laumer, 2007).
Providing users with fast and innovative products requires significant computing power. To generate the computing power required for its users Google has created severaldata centers, which are large facilities that contain lots of computers, across the globe that account for most of its energy needs.Google has designed their data center infrastructure to use as little energy as possible. Google believes that it runs the world’s most efficient data centers. A data center designed by Google consumes about half the energy a typical data center.
Figure 2: Google's DataCenter Electricity Usage (“Efficient Computing,” 2009).
When designing a data center Google has a five step approach to constructing it. The first step Google takes is to minimize electricity usage by servers. Second step is to reduce the energy used by the data center facilities themselves. Third step involves conserving precious fresh water by recycling water instead. Fourth step is to reuse or recycle all electronic equipment that leaves the data centers. Finally, the fifth step requires Google to engage their fellow staff to advance smarter energy practices (“Efficient Computing,” 2009).
Sustainability is dependent on various different factors. Sustainability itself can not be achieved through one individual or one company alone, but as a collaborative effort. What Google is doing are the steps businesses need to take in order to ensure a sustainable future for other companies as they growbecause not only do those companies impact themselves but they impact the lives of many people.
References
“Efficient Computing.” (2009). Google. Retrived from
Laumer, J. (2007, December 10). Googling The Googleplex: With More Solar Googlables To Come. Treehugger. Retrieved from
Schwartz, J. (2009, June 8). Google’s Commitment to Sustainability. The Urban Country. Retrieved from