[#include: boiler-plate apology for operational content] Google has released its PUE numbers: <http://www.google.com/corporate/datacenters/measuring.html> There is a nice explanation of this, including a graph showing why DC efficiency is more important than machine efficiency (on the second page) at this link: <http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2008/10/01/google-the-worlds-mos...
I think GOOG deserves a hearty "well done" for getting a whole DC under 1.2 PUE for a whole year. (Actually, I think they deserve a "HOLY @#$@, NO @*&@#-ing WAY!!!") Personally, I think only a self-owned DC could get that low. A general purpose DC would have too many inefficiencies since someone like Equinix must have randomly sized cages, routers and servers, custom-built suites, etc. By owning both sides, GOOG gets a boost. But it's still frickin' amazing, IMHO. For their next miracle, I expect GOOG to capture the waste heat from all their servers and co-gen more electricity to pump back into the servers. :-) -- TTFN, patrick