Actually, bits do pollute, and more than you might think. Server farms consume astonishing amounts of power.
I knew it was a lot ... but not that much a lot. Oy!
North of the 49th we were treated recently to a documentary on Google which described the acquisition of the property for one of those server farms (in NC). Apparently the community had lost major industry in the area (to somewhere south of the Rio Bravo) and the area was hurting badly economically. Because there was now an essentially unused power station nearby, the defunct company's physical plant was ideally suited for such a server farm. Google, "under cloak of darkness"*, made a deal with the local politicos and administration which saw them acquire the property with major concessions in terms of property taxes and the like. They're now set up and running.
* Much like Walt Disney's surreptitious acquisition of land in and around Orlando for his "world of tomorrow" complex.
