For the first time, Google (GOOG) has revealed its global electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, part of a concerted effort to become more transparent about its energy use as it opens new data centers, purchases additional buildings, hires more employees and encourages consumers to use its cloud-based services like Gmail.
The Mountain View-based Internet search giant revealed Thursday that the company consumed 2.26 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2010. In comparison, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says that the average U.S home uses about 11,000 kilowatt hours a year -- which means Google's electricity consumption is roughly equivalent to 200,000 homes.