Natural Science Forum / Physics / General Physics / January 2009

Revealed: the environmental impact of Google searches

Physicist Alex Wissner-Gross says that performing two
Google searches uses up as much energy as boiling the
kettle for a cup of tea

By Jonathan Leake and Richard Woods
The Sunday Times, UK
Sunday, January 11, 2009

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.
"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. "A
Google search has a definite environmental impact."

Google is secretive about its energy consumption and carbon
footprint. It also refuses to divulge the locations of its
data centres. However, with more than 200m internet
searches estimated globally daily, the electricity
consumption and greenhouse gas emissions caused by
computers and the internet 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% of global CO2 emissions. "Data centres
are among the most energy-intensive facilities imaginable,"
said Evan Mills, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory in California. Banks of servers storing
billions of web pages require power.

Though Google says it is in the forefront of green
computing, 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 miles 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.

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 but their primary concern is to make
searches fast and that means they have a lot of extra
capacity that burns energy," he said.

Google said: "We are among the most efficient of all
internet search providers."

Wissner-Gross has also calculated the CO2 emissions caused
by individual use of the internet. His research indicates
that viewing a simple web page generates about 0.02g of CO2
per second. This rises tenfold to about 0.2g of CO2 a
second when viewing a website with complex images,
animations or videos.

A separate estimate from John Buckley, managing director of
carbonfootprint.com, a British environmental consultancy,
puts the CO2 emissions of a Google search at between 1g and
10g, depending on whether you have to start your PC or not.
Simply running a PC generates between 40g and 80g per hour,
he says. of CO2 Chris Goodall, author of Ten Technologies
to Save the Planet, estimates the carbon emissions of a
Google search at 7g to 10g (assuming 15 minutes' computer
use).

Nicholas Carr, author of The Big Switch, Rewiring the
World, has calculated that maintaining a character (known
as an avatar) in the Second Life virtual reality game,
requires 1,752 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. That
is almost as much used by the average Brazilian.

"It's not an unreasonable comparison," said Liam Newcombe,
an expert on data centres at the British Computer Society.
"It tells us how much energy westerners use on
entertainment versus the energy poverty in some countries."

Though energy consumption by computers is growing -- and
the rate of growth is increasing -- Newcombe argues that
what matters most is the type of usage.

If your internet use is in place of more energy-intensive
activities, such as driving your car to the shops, that's
good. But if it is adding activities and energy consumption
that would not otherwise happen, that may pose problems.

Newcombe cites Second Life and Twitter, a rapidly growing
website whose 3m users post millions of messages a month.
Last week Stephen Fry, the TV presenter, was posting
"tweets" from New Zealand, imparting such vital information
as "Arrived in Queenstown. Hurrah. Full of bungy jumping
and 'activewear' shops", and "Honestly. NZ weather makes UK
look stable and clement".

Jonathan Ross was Twittering even more, with posts such as
"Am going to muck out the pigs. It will be cold, but I'm
not the type to go on about it" and "Am now back indoors
and have put on fleecy tracksuit and two pairs of socks".
Ross also made various "tweets" trying to ascertain whether
Jeremy Clarkson was a Twitter user or not. Yesterday the
Top Gear presenter cleared up the matter, saying: "I am not
a twit. And Jonathan Ross is."

Such internet phenomena are not simply fun and hot air,
Newcombe warns: the boom in such services has a carbon
cost.

Related Link
o  How you can help reduce the footprint of the Web
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5488934.ece

Click here for how to reduce the footprint of the Web
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5488934.ece

A comment:

So, what is this www.CO2stats.com site set up by Mr.
Wissner-Gross?

- "a novel software suite"
- "is very smart"
- "detailed, patent-pending calculators"
- "all for a flat, affordable monthly fee"

Yet another snake oil from a self-proclaimed
"certification" body. Applied science at its worst.

- Vadim, Lund, Sweden
More at:
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5489134.ece

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http://tinyurl.com/24fq83
http://www.mantra.com/jai
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish
Om Shanti

Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust

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http://www.hindu.org
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The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate

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