Googling Is Not the (Environmental) Problem | Wired Science from Wired.com:
As for the carbon footprint, Google says each search is only responsible for 0.2 grams of CO2, not the 7 grams that the Harvard researcher claims, but the dispute misses the larger point. U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are estimated at 16.9 billion kilograms of CO2-equivalent per day. Again assuming 5 billion daily searches, Google would be responsible for either 0.2 or 0.006 percent of the nation’s carbon footprint, depending on whose number you choose.
When it comes the world’s energy system, Google is not the problem. They are, however, embedded in the energy-intensive infrastructure that we’ve been building ever since we figured out how to tap the earth’s fossil fuel resources.
