Truth behind environment unfriendly Google

A day before, Various blogs quoted that Googling is harmful to environment. The Times reporters wrote about a new Harvard study that examines the energy impact of Web searches. The Sunday Times of London carried a story saying “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”. How much truth is there?

Alex Wissner-Gross, the author of the study from Stanford university says he never mentioned name of Google in the study. Author told TechNewsWorld that “Our work has nothing to do with Google. Our focus was exclusively on the Web overall, and we found that it takes on average about 20 milligrams of CO2 per second to visit a Web site.” He was, however, clueless as to from where the Times came up with the example involving tea kettles.

In an email answered by Wissner-Gross to the question of reporter about why the Sunday Times focused on Google in its story, He simply said that “it’s a really easy way to sell papers”. The Times quoted him correctly in the story as saying, “A Google search has a definite environmental impact” and “Google operates huge data centers around the world that consume a great deal of power,” he confirmed.