Many people don't realize that many of our favorite cyber-spaces have real-life homes, which means that running websites has a real-world environmental footprint. Files are stored on servers, viewed by personal computers, and connected via networks. To operate these components, electricity must be consumed. And to generate much of that electricity, fossil fuels like coal and natural gas are usually being burned. To put it into perspective, 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 revealed in the London Times Online (they would be just the news source to compare CO2 emissions to tea-kettle boiling)...
The Environmental Impact of a Google Search
We've blogged our concern about the environmental impact of server farms before, but never has anybody actually taken the time to localize the issue and estimate the exact effect our innocent little Google searches have.
While millions of otherwise green-friendly people tap into Google without considering the madre Earth around them, a typical search generates about 7g of CO2; boiling a kettle generates about 15g.
As a consumer of the internets (one or all of them), you can make a difference. Over the years, Internet users have used their powers of persuasion to motivate e-commerce sites to present badges certifying that their credit card processing systems are secure. Savvy users even know to watch for certification that sites they visit are safe from hacker attacks and that have audited privacy policies to protect their identities. Websites now need to be put under pressure to clean up their environmental impacts too and demonstrate that their sites are as green as they can be.
[ Image from World Amazing Information ]
Tags
green ideas, green, energy, CO2, search, electricity, Google, server, emissions, server farmsRelated Links
- Green Ideas: Energy Bucket
- Google Solar Panel Project
- HDTV Power Consumption Comparison
Slinks: (slingks) Surreptitious web links to other good sites - Close-Up: Working from the Road
Part Four -- The Final Chapter - Trane's Deluxe Programmable Digital Thermostat
Share
Comments (6)
Top Tours
- Houston Hi-Tech in a Small Space
- Andrew's Ingenious Floating Monitor Home Office
- Gregory's Refreshed & Refreshing Home Office
- Close-Up: Über Organzied Craft Room with a Touch of Tech
- Casa Familia: Eco-Tech Coastal Living
Top Posts
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
It's also worth having a look at Google's blog where they give a more conservative figure (obviously!) on the energy consumption of their searches (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/). Given Google's track record, I'm inclined to believe their figures (plus the fact that they actually have access to the equipment they use, whereas the guy who wrote the report presumably doesn't?
view mark.brady's profile
I should've put a link into the actual post - it's Powering a Google search.
view mark.brady's profile
I would leave a comment, but the ramifications for the environment are too costly.
view maximumHOTbottom's profile
Thought you might find this interesting. Turns out the article was not very accurate. (Surprize!!) http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/12/revealed-the-times-made-up-that-stuff-about-google-and-the-tea-kettles/
view christinesass's profile
The "research" was not research at all. This post should be amended to reflect that.
view wesaturtle's profile
I just tweeted about this. Dumbest research ever, I can't believe it's being picked up by the WSJ and the NYT. Crazy.
Let's compare this to doing the same search at your local, public library... first, get in your SUV to drive down to the... oh... wait... we just dumped 100x more CO2 into the atmosphere than the Google search, and we're still in the driveway.
Arrrgh.
view Michael Wendell's profile