Now this is interesting. Harvard University physicist, Alex Wissner-Gross, has calculated environmental impact of a typical Google search query and results are not something Al Gore, famous Google fan, will appreciate. TimesOnline reports:

While millions of people tap into Google without considering the environment, a typical search generates about 7g of CO2 Boiling a kettle generates about 15g. “Google operates huge data centres around the world that consume a great deal of power,” said Alex Wissner-Gross, a Harvard University physicist whose research on the environmental impact of computing is due out soon

Clearly this report leaves a big reputation footprint on Google’s green credentials (Check Google Carbon Footprint project). To say that a Google search has a definite environmental impact can be devastating to Google’s reputation as well their bottomline. Google makes 12 cents from each search. With 62.0% of US search market and accounting for 200 million of search queries every day, Google image can be in trouble here.



Wissner-Gross research also sheds light on individual users. Viewing simple web page generates about 0.2g of CO2 per second. Whereas Google PR will clearly go on overdrive to address this report. They better do this sooner before Michelle Malkin inflates this all over capital hill.

CIOs, who manage corporate Data Center will be well advised to introduce good search practices to minimize unnecessary page-surfing.

Update: Google, without losing any time, has a politically corrected rebuttal:

Recently, though, others have used much higher estimates, claiming that a typical search uses “half the energy as boiling a kettle of water” and produces 7 grams of CO2. We thought it would be helpful to explain why this number is *many* times too high. Google is fast — a typical search returns results in less than 0.2 seconds. Queries vary in degree of difficulty, but for the average query, the servers it touches each work on it for just a few thousandths of a second. Together with other work performed before your search even starts (such as building the search index) this amounts to 0.0003 kWh of energy per search, or 1 kJ. For comparison, the average adult needs about 8000 kJ a day of energy from food, so a Google search uses just about the same amount of energy that your body burns in ten seconds.

In terms of greenhouse gases, one Google search is equivalent to about 0.2 grams of CO2. The current EU standard for tailpipe emissions calls for 140 grams of CO2 per kilometer driven, but most cars don’t reach that level yet. Thus, the average car driven for one kilometer (0.6 miles for those of in the U.S.) produces as many greenhouse gases as a thousand Google searches.