The carbon impact of googling
A recent report puts the number at 3.5 g CO2 per search, but some experts are not so sure.
Photo: AP
As Alex Wissner-Gross describes below, his numbers are based on energy consumption for a typical website -- 20 mg of CO2 per second. Google, with their sophisticated server network, claims to be significantly less. But one great thing about this factoid, accurate or not, is that it makes us think about how many of our impacts on the environment remain totally invisible to us.
A new division of cleantech has recently emerged, called "Green IT," to address the growing energy demands of internet and IT infrastructure. Many new technological advances are being made that can save up to 80% on server loads. In the meantime though, I encourage everyone to use Blackle an all-black, energy saving version of Google. The creators theorize that an all black version of Google would save 750,000 kWh's of energy per year.
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Comments
I wonder if any of my other human friends have considered the environmental impact of their computer activities! I wonder if it will alter them any?! why am I so doubtful? because I'm reluctant to change my habit of sometimes leaving my computer powered up overnight to save me the time of starting all the features up again in the morning?
