Next Green Thing: Floating Data Servers

For decades, inventors have been working on ways to convert the natural kinetics of the sea into electricity. Just one year ago this October, the first-ever wave farm kicked into action off the coast of Portugal - and plans are in the works to build them in the waters surrounding Scotland, England and California.

Now, it appears that Google wants to tap into that power, too. The blogosphere is abuzz over a patent that the Internet giant filed for a device called a "floating data center" - a large group of computers, set out to sea, powered by the motion of the ocean, and kept cool by its water.

Data farms are notorious energy-suckers: they’re using 1.5 percent of the nation’s electricity supply. They’re called the SUVs of the tech world. It’s comparable to about five 1,000-megawatt power plants.

Martin LaMonica wrote about Google’s plans for a floating data center for CNet.com, and he joins Word of Mouth with more.

(Image from Google's patent application courtesy of Google)