There is an interesting news story that is going around recently based on one of the articles published in The Times of London. In the article named The Environmental Impact of Google Searches, Alex Wissner Gross, a Harvard Physicist has stated that every single Google search generates 7g of carbon dioxide as opposed to the 15g generated by a teakettle. In his article, he states that it has a definite impact on the environment. Though the article concentrates on Google search, it is applicable for all the other search engines too.
However, if the above fact is considered in isolation leaving out all the other benefits, then it might sound that it is really bad and that we need to shelve Google search and the usage of the internet!
To put thing on perspective, we just need to note a few points. First of all, how many trips to the public library are saved around the world because of the use of the internet? When we go we go to look for some information in the public library, we go driving our cars or our motor bikes, which uses fuel that depletes the earth’s resources. On the other hand, a quick Google search saves our planet from depletion and wastage of natural resources. It also saves us a lot of time and energy making us all the more efficient and productive.
The internet is also taking the entire world in the path of paperless office. This is one of the best efforts on going green. If we have to buy books, each book amounts up to 2500gms of carbon dioxide and as per the above figures, it is over 350 times a single search.
Google in its blog post responded to the above article and has stated that Google search actually takes only 0.2 grams of CO2 as opposed to the figures stated in the published article. Probably, Google search has definitive impact on the environment but in a positive way! Therefore, Google after all is not such a negative force as projected. At the same time, there is room for all the search engines to become more energy efficient. With the increasing number of websites online and the increasing internet usage, it does call for an action.
This also calls for individual responsibility. The more time we spend online surfing the internet in vain searches trying to while away our time, can lead to wastage of energy that could possibly directed to some productive searches. It is therefore not the search engines but the users are to become more responsible. Search engines are facilitating in getting the information that we need in the shortest time using the least resources.
In its response, Google has also stated that it has invested $45 million in clean energy technologies. By this Google wants to point out that it is an eco friendly search engine and not a villain.