The Google Effect

Have you ever heard of the Google Effect? As defined by author Robert Bryce, it is the likely impact on energy consumption of the world's population gaining access to computers and the Internet. Simply put, it means as more people use more computers, more server farms will be needed which in turn will require increasing amounts of electricity.

Demographer Wendell Cox, principal of Demographia in St. Louis, has looked into the Google Effect and similar trends among global populations and has become convinced that energy demand is going to increase by 55 percent globally over the next 25 years. To hear his comments, listen to the podcast below. By the way, Wendell Cox is working with API to examine demographic trends in energy consumption.