Google searches generate 1,400 tonnes of CO2 daily: report

12 January 2009

A normal Google search on a desktop computer generates about seven gm of carbon, nearly half the amount of CO2 a kettle generates while it reaches boiling point, reports quoting researchers at the Harward University said.

Considering that Google handles around 200 million searches a day, this would amount to releasing 1,400 tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere each day, The Times, London said in report on the `Environmental Impact of Google Searches', published in its Sunday edition.

The report is based on research report by Harward researcher Alex Wissner-Gross, who has submitted it for publication by the US Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The researcher has also set up a website called `www.CO2stats.com'.

The report said the carbon impact of the searches come from the enormous power that Google consumes. "Google operates huge data centres around the world that consume a great deal of power," adding that Google seldom reveals the number of its centers or the amount of power it consumes.

Overall, the report said, the IT industry generates about two per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions – equivalent to the total greenhouse gases generated by the world's airlines - according to a recent study  by research firm Gartner.

Google, a member of a new group called `Climate Savers Computing Initiative', however, refutes the findings.