Google has broken its silence on energy consumption, announcing that it consumed 2,259,998 MWh in 2010.

In a new section on the Google Green site, called “The Big Picture,” Google also said that it generated 1.46 million metric tons of carbon dioxide last year. Average annual carbon footprint per user was about 1.46 kg CO2 before offsets, and 0 kg afterwards, Google said.”

The company said that by purchasing and generating renewable energy, as well as buying high-quality carbon offsets, it has brought its carbon output to zero. “We’re very picky because we want to make sure that our investment has a positive impact that wouldn’t have happened without us. For example, we pay for reductions in emissions from a landfill near our data center,” Google said.

Read more at the Environmental Leader: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/09/09/google-reveals-electricity-use-breaking-its-silence/