Sustainability Policies at Google Inc

SUSTAINABILITY POLICIES AT GOOGLE INC.

Rifayat Ahmed

GeorgeMasonUniversity
Sustainability Policies at Google Inc.

Sustainability, in a general sense, is the capacity to endure. Environmental sustainability seeks to provide both humans and the environment with the best outcomes now and into an indefinite future. Being able to achieve sustainability will allow the Earth to continue to support life as we know it. Numerous scientific studies show that humans are living a very unsustainable pattern that threatens both people and the environment. Specifically, the companies that produce goods and services, because they operate on such a large scale, have become a greater threat to sustainability than individualscan be. Google Inc., however, is doing theopposite of most other companies by seeking to grow as a company while minimizing its impact on the environment.

Companies have for a long time disregarded the effects of their byproducts from manufacturing and business processes. Companies are in business for one reason: to produce profits. Unfortunately, if governments did not protect the interests of the people,businesses would have no reason to improve the processes that cause so much environmental damage.According to a study funded by the United Statesgovernment, improvements in air quality over the past two decades have added about five months to the average life expectancy in the United States (Chang, 2009). This cleaner air can be credited to the U.S. government, which revised the Clean Air Act in 1970 to grant the Environment Protection Agency the power to enforce national standards to protect the people from certain kinds of particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and other pollutants (Chang, 2009).Ifthe government had not stepped in and made changes, businesses would have no reason to improve their business processes, because the additional costs would reduce profits.

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 world's largest solar power arrays on the rooftops of its corporate headquarters, known as the Googleplex, in Mountain View, California (see Figure 1). Google installed 9,212 photovoltaic panels to supply 1.6 megawatts of electricity.According to blogger James D. Schwartz, the amount of electricity produced is about 30% of the energy required to operate the more than twenty buildings at the Googleplex.It is estimated that the solar panel project Google has invested in will pay for itself in seven years through the electricity produced (Laumer, 2007). Google has also invested $20 million in various wind and solar companies and, along with its nonprofit organization, Google.org, set aside $10 million to speed up the development of plug-in electric cars. Google has gone so far as to create a new company position titled “Chief Sustainability Officer," which has been filled by Robyn Beavers (Keefe, 2008).

Figure 1. Googleplex's rooftop solar panels. From J. 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 across the globe, large facilities with many computers that account for most of the company's energy needs.Google has designed its data center infrastructure to use as little energy as possible; the company now claims that it runs the world’s most efficient data centers. As shown in Figure 2, a data center designed by Google consumes about half the energy of a typical data center.

Figure 2. Google's data center electricity usage. From Google, 2009.

Google has a five-step approach to designing and constructing a data center. The first step Google takes is to minimize electricity usage by servers. Thesecond step is to reduce the energy used by the data center facilities themselves. The third is to conserve precious fresh water by recycling water instead. The fourth is to reuse or recycle all electronic equipment that leaves the data centers. Finally, the fifth step requires all Google staff to advance smarter energy practices (Google, 2009).

With all these efficiently running data centers across the globe, othercompanies engaged in the same type of business work inefficiently compared to Google. Accordingly, Google has made special efforts to ensure sustainability as a primary goal not only for Google but also for its competitors. During the last Uptime Institute’s Green IT Symposium (2009) Google shared the details behind its data center efficiency with competitors to encourage energy saving.

Sustainability is dependent on many factors. It cannot be achieved through one individual or company alone; it must be a collaborative effort. Google is ensuring a sustainable future for other companies as they growbecause those companies impact not just themselves but the lives of many people.

References

Chang, A. (2009, January 22). Study: Air Pollution Shortens US Life Span. The Huffington Post. Retrieved December 4, 2009, from

Google.Efficient Computing. (2009). Retrieved from

Google to ShareDataCenter Efficiency Details at Uptime Institute's Green IT Symposium.(2009,April 8). Business Wire. Retrieved December 1, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Dateline. (Document ID:1675847461).

Keefe, B. (2008, February 21).Meet Google's Chief Sustainability Officer (What a Cool Job!).Divine Caroline. Retrieved 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