Post by Willow on Jan 12, 2009 11:35:22 GMT 9.5
Jonathan Leake and Richard Woods | January 12, 2009
PERFORMING two Google searches can generate a similar amount of carbon dioxide to boiling the kettle for a cup of tea, according to new research.
While millions of people tap into Google without a thought for the environment, a typical search generates about 7g of carbon dioxide. Boiling a kettle generates about 15g.
Alex Wissner-Gross, a Harvard University physicist whose research on the environmental impact of computing is due out soon, said: "Google operates huge data centres around the world that consume a great deal of power. A Google search has a definite environmental impact."
Google, which refuses to divulge the locations of its dozens of data centres, denied the company was harmful to the environment. However, with more than 200 million internet searches estimated globally every day, the level of electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions generated is provoking concern.
A recent report by Gartner, the industry analysts, said the global IT industry generated as much greenhouse gas as the world's airlines - about 2 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
Evan Mills, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, said: "Data centres are among the most energy-intensive facilities imaginable."
Banks of servers storing billions of web pages require power both to run and cool them.
Google says it is in the forefront of green computing.
"We've committed to being carbon-neutral worldwide - that is, zero net emissions - for 2007 and beyond, by creating what we believe to be the most energy-efficient data centres in the world, using renewable energy sources and investing in high-quality carbon offset projects," a Google Australia spokesman said yesterday.
However, its search engine generates high levels of CO2 because of the way it operates. When you type in a Google search for, say, "energy saving tips", your request doesn't go to just one server. It goes to several competing against each other. It may even be sent to servers thousands of kilometres apart.
Google's infrastructure sends you data from whichever produces the answer fastest. The system minimises delays but raises energy consumption. Google has servers in the US, Europe, Japan and China.
Mr Wissner-Gross has submitted his research for publication by the US Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and has also set up a website www.CO2stats.com.
"Google are very efficient buttheir primary concern is to make searches fast and that means they have a lot of extra capacity that burns energy," Mr Wissner-Gross said.
Nicholas Carr, author of The Big Switch, Rewiring the World, has calculated that maintaining a character in the Second Life virtual reality game requires 1752 kilowatt hours of electricity a year. That is almost as much used by the average Brazilian.
Of course I wonder how that compares to the power used for 25 calls to get the same info OR having ot get in the car and drive around either to shops or library etc ....
PERFORMING two Google searches can generate a similar amount of carbon dioxide to boiling the kettle for a cup of tea, according to new research.
While millions of people tap into Google without a thought for the environment, a typical search generates about 7g of carbon dioxide. Boiling a kettle generates about 15g.
Alex Wissner-Gross, a Harvard University physicist whose research on the environmental impact of computing is due out soon, said: "Google operates huge data centres around the world that consume a great deal of power. A Google search has a definite environmental impact."
Google, which refuses to divulge the locations of its dozens of data centres, denied the company was harmful to the environment. However, with more than 200 million internet searches estimated globally every day, the level of electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions generated is provoking concern.
A recent report by Gartner, the industry analysts, said the global IT industry generated as much greenhouse gas as the world's airlines - about 2 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
Evan Mills, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, said: "Data centres are among the most energy-intensive facilities imaginable."
Banks of servers storing billions of web pages require power both to run and cool them.
Google says it is in the forefront of green computing.
"We've committed to being carbon-neutral worldwide - that is, zero net emissions - for 2007 and beyond, by creating what we believe to be the most energy-efficient data centres in the world, using renewable energy sources and investing in high-quality carbon offset projects," a Google Australia spokesman said yesterday.
However, its search engine generates high levels of CO2 because of the way it operates. When you type in a Google search for, say, "energy saving tips", your request doesn't go to just one server. It goes to several competing against each other. It may even be sent to servers thousands of kilometres apart.
Google's infrastructure sends you data from whichever produces the answer fastest. The system minimises delays but raises energy consumption. Google has servers in the US, Europe, Japan and China.
Mr Wissner-Gross has submitted his research for publication by the US Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and has also set up a website www.CO2stats.com.
"Google are very efficient buttheir primary concern is to make searches fast and that means they have a lot of extra capacity that burns energy," Mr Wissner-Gross said.
Nicholas Carr, author of The Big Switch, Rewiring the World, has calculated that maintaining a character in the Second Life virtual reality game requires 1752 kilowatt hours of electricity a year. That is almost as much used by the average Brazilian.
Of course I wonder how that compares to the power used for 25 calls to get the same info OR having ot get in the car and drive around either to shops or library etc ....