Search Companies Energetically Seeking Electricity

The Wall Street Journal reports that the search companies, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Ask and possibly Google are looking to find cheap electricity to power all the computers and hardware that power the companies. The article says that one large data center can use as much energy as a city of 40,000 people! The search companies are looking for locations next to cheap energy sources such as former defense bunkers, near hydroelectric plants, and other locations where electricity is cheaper. Microsoft’s data center consumption of power doubled over the past four years, so this is a serious concern for Microsoft and other search companies.