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Do you know where the Internet’s power comes from? You should.

Here are some things to chew on:

According to a 2006 estimate by researchers from MIT and Carnegie Mellon, data centers in the US used 61 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2006 – enough to power 5.8 million American homes – at a cost to the high-tech industry of $4.5 billion. In 2006, this energy consumption was roughly equivalent to the energy produced by 15 baseload power plants. These numbers are hardly decreasing.

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Coal accounts for 49 percent of this country’s electricity production. Natural gas accounts for 21.5 percent. Roughly 20 percent comes from nuclear, hydroelectric accounts for 6 percent, and other renewables — including wind, solar, and geothermal — account for less than three percent.

In 2008, in California — the home of Silicon Valley — 58 percent the electricity generated came from natural gas, and 16 percent came from nuclear power. By contrast, about 11 percent of California’s power comes from hydroelectric sources, six percent power comes from geothermal, less than three percent of its electricity comes from wind energy, and one-third of a percent comes from solar.

What about other states that help to power the Internet?

Here’s the electricity mix for another state with a fair number of data centers: Washington State.

• Hydroelectric 70 percent
• Natural gas 9 percent
• Nuclear 8 percent
• Coal 8 percent
• Wind 3 percent
• Solar < 1 percent

How about Texas, another state with its share of data centers?

• Natural gas 48 percent
• Coal 36 percent
• Nuclear 10 percent
• Wind 4 percent
• Solar < 2 percent

Any data centers in Virginia? You bet:

• Coal 44 percent
• Nuclear 38 percent
• Natural gas 13 percent
• Petroleum (!) 1.5 percent
• Solar > 2 percent
• Wind … what wind?

Missouri also hosts data centers, and, like many states, wants to host even more:

• Coal 61 percent
• Nuclear 27 percent
• Natural gas 8 percent
• Wind 1 percent
• Solar < 1 percent

There are also data centers in New York State:

• Natural gas 31 percent
• Nuclear 31 percent
• Hydroelectric 19 percent
• Coal 14 percent
• Wind 1 percent
• Solar < 1 percent

(Source for all of this: EIA)

Also consider that much of the steel, the plastics, and the fiber optics that comprise the Internet’s physical infrastructure are either made in factories that are powered by natural gas, or contain materials that were produced with or from natural gas.

Takeaway: The moment you jump online, you are consuming natural gas — and lots of it.

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