The average square foot of data center uses 100 to 200 times more electricity than does square foot of modern office building.

Data centers become battleground in war between fossil fuels.

Coal is world's largest single current and future source of electricity.

The research was sponsored by a coal mining association and a "clean coal" lobbying association.

The top coal burning countries are:

1. USA
2. Russia
3. China:
4. Australia:
5. India
6. Germany
7. Ukraine

This particular research report appears to counter previous research that indicates that cloud computing is the "green" IT choice. 

Mills recently published a new report titled Cloud Begins With Coal and is follow-up to his piece called Internet Begins With Coal from 1999.

This is a a 45-page report, sponsored by National Mining Association and American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.

Read The world's top 7 coal countries: By the numbers from The Week