Wissner-Gross' research calculated the CO2 emissions produced by individual use of the internet. It indicates that viewing a simple web page generates about 0.02g of CO2 per second. This increases to about 0.2g of CO2 a second when viewing a website with complex images, animations or videos.
Other analysts came up with different estimates. John Buckley, managing director of a British environmental consultancy carbonfootprint.com, estimates Google searches CO2 emissions to about 1g and 10g, depending on whether you have to start your PC or not. According to him, simply running a PC generates between 40g and 80g per hour. Chris Goodall, author of Ten Technologies to Save the Planet, estimates about the carbon emissions of a Google search at 7g to 10g within 15 minutes of computer use.
Google responded to this issue by saying that these estimates are "many times too high". In their official blog, the search engine giant declared that their data centres are designed and built as the most energy efficient ones in the world. This meant that the energy produced per Google search is very minimal. The greenhouse gases a typical Google search produces is equivalent to about 0.2 grams of CO2. The standard for tailpipe emissions calls for 140 grams of CO2 per kilometer driven, but most cars don't reach that level yet, meaning the average car driven for one kilometer (0.6 miles for those in the U.S.) produces as many greenhouse gases as a thousand Google searches.
Despite misgivings arising on Google's energy use, many have also sprung into the defense of the internet giant. Remarks on how Google remains one of the most eco-friendly organizations came from readers around the world. "Power use is a cost for Google and other computing companies, so bringing down power consumption of anything in its infrastructure is just good for its business, beyond the environmental impact", Katie Fehrenbacher states, and added that if there was an easy way for Google to reduce that per-query energy consumption, it probably would have done so already. Kevin Marks says that breathing produces about 6g of carbon every 10 minutes, as much as Wissner-Gross' computer estimate does. "I suggest you hold your breath while you search Google, to offset your carbon use," he wrote. It is not even about Google, Nick Carr points out, "It's about us," and how much energy we use and waste every time we power our computers and other electronic gadgets.
Google being the Internet giant it is, will surely continue to be the attention of the environmentalists for some time to come. - 16747
Other analysts came up with different estimates. John Buckley, managing director of a British environmental consultancy carbonfootprint.com, estimates Google searches CO2 emissions to about 1g and 10g, depending on whether you have to start your PC or not. According to him, simply running a PC generates between 40g and 80g per hour. Chris Goodall, author of Ten Technologies to Save the Planet, estimates about the carbon emissions of a Google search at 7g to 10g within 15 minutes of computer use.
Google responded to this issue by saying that these estimates are "many times too high". In their official blog, the search engine giant declared that their data centres are designed and built as the most energy efficient ones in the world. This meant that the energy produced per Google search is very minimal. The greenhouse gases a typical Google search produces is equivalent to about 0.2 grams of CO2. The standard for tailpipe emissions calls for 140 grams of CO2 per kilometer driven, but most cars don't reach that level yet, meaning the average car driven for one kilometer (0.6 miles for those in the U.S.) produces as many greenhouse gases as a thousand Google searches.
Despite misgivings arising on Google's energy use, many have also sprung into the defense of the internet giant. Remarks on how Google remains one of the most eco-friendly organizations came from readers around the world. "Power use is a cost for Google and other computing companies, so bringing down power consumption of anything in its infrastructure is just good for its business, beyond the environmental impact", Katie Fehrenbacher states, and added that if there was an easy way for Google to reduce that per-query energy consumption, it probably would have done so already. Kevin Marks says that breathing produces about 6g of carbon every 10 minutes, as much as Wissner-Gross' computer estimate does. "I suggest you hold your breath while you search Google, to offset your carbon use," he wrote. It is not even about Google, Nick Carr points out, "It's about us," and how much energy we use and waste every time we power our computers and other electronic gadgets.
Google being the Internet giant it is, will surely continue to be the attention of the environmentalists for some time to come. - 16747
