Hasta La Ideas

You may have seen wooden handrails at older train stations that have been sanded smooth by decades of human hands running along them.

If Google was a wooden handrail, it would be glass-smooth by now. I myself send dozens if not hundreds of Google queries a day, and it never once occurred to me that this might be bad for the environment.

But it is, according to Harvard University physicist Alex Wissner-Gross, who points out that “Google operates huge data centres around the world that consume a great deal of power.” Examining his research, the Times Online concludes that “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,” sending CO2 into the atmosphere. They elaborate:

We are happy to make clear that this does not refer to a one-hit Google search taking less than a second, which Google says produces about 0.2g of CO2, a figure we accept. In the article, we were referring to a Google search that may involve several attempts to find the object being sought and that may last for several minutes. Various experts put forward carbon emission estimates for such a search of 1g-10g depending on the time involved and the equipment used.

While it seems impossible, the article uncovers other research stating that “the global IT industry generated as much greenhouse gas as the world’s airlines.” Read the awful truth here, and check out Wissner-Gross’ www.CO2stats.com. (Note that the earlier link also features a video presenting the research, ironically hosted at Google Video.)

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