Greenwash
Yesterday's Sunday Times features an article in which it was claimed that a single Google search indirectly produces around 7g of CO2 and compared this to the roughly 15g of CO2 created in order produce the electricity to boil a kettle.
The Times was referring to new research by Harvard boffin Alex Wissner-Gross. It quoted him saying: "Google operates huge data centres around the world that consume a great deal of power. A Google search has a definite environmental impact."
Wissner-Gross has created a website - co2stats.com - which has the stated aim of "making websites green" and presumably makes money from doing so. The article revealed his calculation that merely viewing a web page creates 0.02g of CO2 per second and that multiplies ten-fold when viewing animations or video.
Apparently a recent Gartner report said the IT industry contributes as much as the airline industry to global CO2 emissions - around 2 percent.
Google isn't taking being painted as an eco-vandal lying down, however, and has posted a riposte on its blog, attributed to Urs Hölzle, senior VP of operations. In it he points out that a Google search takes the place of a trip to the library, thus cutting down on the use of transport and paper.
He goes on to rubbish the ‘7g per search' claim, saying that one search typically uses 1kj (kilojoule) of energy, which is responsible for a mere 0.2 grams of CO2 when it's generated. He then goes on about how committed to green stuff Google is.
