January 12, 2009 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – Research carried out in the United States by physicist Alex Wissner-Gross has established the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) generated by Google search, reports from a number of sources, including the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), have suggested.
According to the research, each Google search generates 7g of CO2, making the CO2 released by two searches equivalent to that created by boiling a kettle to make tea or coffee. Multiply this by the number of searches, and the amount of CO2 generated is equivalent to the greenhouse gas generated by all of the world’s airlines combined.
According to Mr. Wissner-Gross, Google generates more carbon dioxide than some competitors through its massive requirement for data storage and use of servers. Given there are an estimated 200 million Internet searches daily, the environmental impact of searching on Google has become cause for concern. Already, the search industry is generating 2% of the total greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. “Data centers are among the most energy-intensive facilities imaginable,” the Times of London quoted Lawrence Berkeley scientist, Mr. Evan Mills as suggesting.
