Your Google searches are destroying the planet.

[ToxicAdam]

Revealed: the environmental impact of Google searches

Physicist Alex Wissner-Gross says that performing two Google searches uses up as much energy as boiling the kettle for a cup of tea

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.

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5489134.ece



Repent now for your carbon sins. Not only the sins you have commited, but the sins of your dead relatives. Just send a check to the Dewey, Cheetem and Howe Carbon Fund and you too can be absolved.

[recursivelyenumerable]

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.

7g * 200M searches/day = 1.4 M kg/day
US CO2 emissions are about 17 billion kg/day, so ... hmm.

edit: LOL, MATH IS HARD

[fistfulofmetal]

i guess it's time to ddos google

[Great Rumbler]

I'd like to see how that compares with, say, driving a mile in an average SUV.

[recursivelyenumerable]

apparently CO2 emissions from burning gasoline are about 9 kg/gallon, so if your SUV gets 20 mpg, 1 mile = 450g = 65 Google searches.  Then again, I found this information using Google, so the real answer is probably more like 3 or 4.

[DJ_Tet]

Speaking of which, what the fuck are 'Carbon Offsets' and who gets that money?


Am I supposed to pay extra to my power company because of some sort of environmental guilt?


Go fuck yourself k?  I turn my shower on and off just to rinse, I do my part in keeping my carbon footprint low.  How about those companies that dump millions of gallons of waste into creeks? 


Maybe they should buy all these 'Carbon Offsets.'


Did I mention you can go fuck yourself?

[Great Rumbler]

apparently CO2 emissions from burning gasoline are about 9 kg/gallon, so if your SUV gets 20 mpg, 1 mile = 450g = 65 Google searches.  Then again, I found this information using Google, so the real answer is probably more like 3 or 4.

To give a bit more perspective to that, 200 million Google searches is equivalent to about 3 million of those SUVs driving an extra mile a day.

[recursivelyenumerable]

To give a bit more perspective to that, 200 million Google searches is equivalent to about 3 million of those SUVs driving an extra mile a day.

I dunno, it kinda does seem like potentially a lot to me though.  I guess most of the world isn't like me yet, but I probably average 100 searches a day.  If everyone in the world did that, we'd have 600 B searches/day which could amount to like 6% of world carbon emissions, and Google searches are only a small part of the IT industry of course.

[Joe Molotov]

Then again, I found this information using Google

Environment am cry.  :'(

[Bocsius]

So much for the internet.

[MCD]

IN RUSSIA

[recursivelyenumerable]

epilogue: Both google and the physicist cited say this story is BS anyway.

[Bildi]

It doesn't change the fact that boiling kettles are destroying the planet.

[Mandark]

epilogue: Both google and the physicist cited say this story is BS anyway.

Yep.  Science reporting (including the soft sciences like economics) in major dailies is generally awful.  The kettle stat wasn't sourced, either.