1/12/2009

Even politically correct Google runs afoul of green police

First let me say that I am not upset about Google searches producing carbon dioxide. I am just amused the depths to which this micromanaging of behavior goes. The London Times has this story:

Performing two Google searches from a desktop computer can generate about the same amount of carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle for a cup of tea, according to new research.

While millions of people tap into Google without considering the environment, a typical search generates about 7g of CO2 Boiling a kettle generates about 15g. “Google operates huge data centres around the world that consume a great deal of power,” said Alex Wissner-Gross, a Harvard University physicist whose research on the environmental impact of computing is due out soon. “A Google search has a definite environmental impact.”

Google is secretive about its energy consumption and carbon footprint. It also refuses to divulge the locations of its data centres. However, with more than 200m internet searches estimated globally daily, the electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions caused by computers and the internet is provoking concern. A recent report by Gartner, the industry analysts, said the global IT industry generated as much greenhouse gas as the world’s airlines - about 2% of global CO2 emissions. “Data centres are among the most energy-intensive facilities imaginable,” said Evan Mills, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. Banks of servers storing billions of web pages require power. . . .

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4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Clearly the solution is for everyone to drive to the library to look stuff up.

1/12/2009 8:38 AM  
Blogger juandos said...

Well golly gee!

I've used google and yahoo enough this morning to generate enough CO2 to boil a couple of 55 gallon drums of water...

Is there a prize for that sort of effort?...:-)

1/12/2009 10:42 AM  
Blogger Martin G. Schalz said...

If this be the case, why hasn't the Earth been reduced to a cinder by now?

Then again, 21 Dec 2012 will be the end of us all, due to Google reaching critical mass?

1/12/2009 4:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That company's environmental impact exists whether or not you or I perform a search and as long as it is available to be used and searched simultaneously by millions.

To spin the individual user as culpable is typical dis-information by the 'watermelons' (that are sickly-green on the outside and good ol' leftist-pinko on the inside).

Doug Huffman
Washington Island
Wisconsin

1/13/2009 6:16 AM  

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