Environmental Impact of Online Google Searches

According to new research carried out by a scientist in the US, using the internet search engine Google for two online searches generates as much CO2 as is produced when a kettle is boiled.

The scientist in question - Harvard University’s Alex Wissner-Gross – carried out a study into how so-called “googling” - that is, using Google to look for particular search terms – impacted on the world around us. He discovered that when a person uses Google to search online, approximately 7 grams of CO2 are produced – about half that created by a boiling (electric) kettle.

Electricity Emissions

Wissner-Gross contests that the sources of these CO2 emissions are the computer terminal’s electricity consumption and, on a wider scale, that used by Google itself across its globalised data sites.

Google is associated with speed, in the sense that the results of an online search normally come back pretty quickly. This rapidity, Wissner-Gross says, is, however, at a cost, since it relies on Google’s multiple data bank use, meaning – as far as he is concerned – that higher levels of CO2 emissions are taking place compared to other online search engines.

Online CO2 Output

In general terms, 0.02 grams of CO2 are emitted for each second of online use, according to Wissner-Gross – a considerable figure when one considers the 200 million online searches performed each day (according to estimated figures).

“Websites are provided by servers and are viewed by visitors' computers that are connected via networks”, the US scientists states on his own website, CO2Stats.com.

“These servers, clients and networks all require electricity in order to run, electricity that is largely generated by burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. When fossil fuels are burned, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, which contribute to climate change.”

Environmental Physics

The issue of how information technology affects the environment is a key concern to figures working within environmental physics. Indeed, one recent survey approximated that, combined, worldwide information technology use could rival the airline industry in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

A statement has been issued by Google in which it asserts that the issue is one that it is taking “seriously”.

Its data centres, it said, are “the most energy efficient...in the world”, adding: “In fact, in the time it takes to do a Google search, your own personal computer will use more energy than we will use to answer your query.”