Newsletters Welcome, Guest Log In | Register

Subscribe

Sign up now and get the best business technology insights direct to your inbox.

  • Daily Edge
  • CTO Edge Update
  • Business Tools & Templates
  • Aligning IT & Business Goals
  • Maximizing IT Investments

1

Google Disputes Physicist's Energy Usage Claims

Posted by Ainsley Jones Jan 12, 2009 11:54:09 AM

Google issued a retort on its Official blog to a Times of London piece where Harvard physicist Alex Wissner-Gross alleges that every two Google searches generates the same amount of carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle of water, about 15g.

 

According to the Times report, users conduct about 200 million searches a day globally via Google. The article's authors say the waste comes in the method Google's search engine operates. A user's search request is delivered by the server that produces the fastest answer, causing servers thousands of miles apart to compete against one another and use more energy.

 

Google claims that it has the most energy-efficient data centers in the industry, which minimizes the energy used per Google search and says that its searches are equivalent to only 0.2 grams of carbon dioxide. The company claims on its blog that during the time it takes to conduct a Google search, an individual's PC uses more energy than does Google in producing the result.

 

This TechCrunch.com item via The Washington Post attempts to shed a bit of light on the argument. A 500-page book has a carbon footprint of 2,500 grams, compared to the 7.5 or 0.2 grams a single Google search produces. In addition, a person can conduct a Google search in lieu of traveling somewhere to seek out the information. While the author admits Google can probably become more energy efficient, he believes the tone of the Times article to be alarmist.

Add a comment Leave a comment on this blog post.
Jan 12, 2009 12:35 PM Guest robin metze  says:

that was a cheap shot.. do more home work.

Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Template Pack

Prepare your company for any type of disaster you can envision and those you cannot. Immediately download this comprehensive set of templates and tools for documenting your business contingency plans.

Learn more >

Social Media Policies Toolkit

Define the rules at your company for the proper use of social media platforms such as Blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. Ensure your users are spending their time productively and company resources are being used for the business.

Learn more >

Software Forum: Information On Demand Virtual Experience

This interactive virtual forum presents leading IT experts providing the insights you need to turn your information into a strategic driver for innovation, business optimization and competitive differentiation.

Performance Under Pressure: The State of Enterprise Web Application Quality and Availability

This research study finds that Web application issues are an all-too-common problem and examines these Web-based enterprise application issues from two perspectives: that of an online customer and that of a site manager.

Optimized Infrastructure

Hardware and software tools to create an enterprise infrastructure for data and business optimization.

Data Warehousing for Business Intelligence

Comprehensive storage solutions for better data access and retrieval, leading to better-informed business decisions.

Virtualization & Business Continuity

Virtualization solutions, management tips and industry insights to promote and insure the lifespan of your business.

Data Management Solutions

Data management and storage solutions, tips and best practices to improve the scalability, reliability, and accessability of your data.