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There is a piece in todays Crikey email about this story on the carbon impact of each individual Google search that has been doing the rounds of the papers and blogosphere today. In the email, we discuss the problem with the article that the scientist behind the study is actually promoting his business and the journalists happliy play along but really, there is a second issue with this article.
Even if the article wasnt largely a veiled PR piece for the scientists company, there are still problems.
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, according to new research.
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.
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Gordon Parish
on Jan 13th, 2009
@ 11:36 am:
There are a number of refutations of this misinformation regarding Google searches. Dr. Joseph Romm at climateprogress.org writes:
(http://climateprogress.org/2009/01/12/internet-google-carbon-footprint-alex-wissner-gross-myth/
“The overhyping of the internets energy use goes back a decade, pushed by two right-wing deniers, Mark Mills and Peter Huber. They were actually using their easily-refuted analysis to argue against climate restrictions I kid you not.”
He goes on to comment:
“I ended up writing a major report debunking this myth and then testifying in front of the Senate Commerce committee (i.e. John McCain) and the House on the subject. Jon Koomey and others at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) did even more work debunking this nonsense (click here for everything you could possibly want to know on the subject).
There are actually two mistakes in the Harvard calculation. The first, which was the focus of my research, is the big picture issue. What is the net energy consumed by the internet? I argue the internet is a net energy saver and a big one since it increases efficiency (especially in things like the supply chain) and dematerialization (it uses less energy to research online than in person). The fact that U.S. energy intensity (energy consumed per dollar of GDP) began dropping sharply in the mid-1990s is but one piece of evidence that internet- and IT-driven growth is less energy intensive.”
Gordon Parish
on Jan 13th, 2009
@ 5:35 pm:
Climate Progress just updated their website with the following information regarding this subject…
“Now TechNewsWorld reports:
A Harvard researcher spent much of Monday setting the record straight about his research and how it relates to Googles energy consumption
Affan Laghari
on Jan 14th, 2009
@ 1:00 am:
Thanks for the comments Gordon.
Seems like one of those media manipulations to get their stories more coverage. The story wouldn’t have become so popular if they had stated only Gross’s findings but they had to make it spicy. And what’s more that it worked. Even Google came to clarify their stance on their official blog.