A storm has erupted over the carbon footprint of a cup of tea, literally. A Sunday Times story cited a Harvard scientist who claims that the carbon footprint of a Google search is comparable to that of making a cup of tea.
The story, full of wild guesses, prompted a quick response from Google.
Google claims that one search has a footprint of 0.2 grams of CO2. Which is very little.
The funny side of the Sunday Times story was that it was little more than a plug for the company of the scientist in question, who owns a carbon offset provider dedicated to offsetting websites. So, hey presto, the article came complete with URLs and all, so that you can end up there feeling all guilty about your Google searches and get offsetting. What I find hilarious is that the company in question doesn't even once mention that it is about offsetting the carbon footprint of websites. It talks of making them "green". Oh goody. Such is the bad reputation of the offsetting industry that some providers go about their business concealing the dirty word like sex shop owners putting the goods in brown paper bags.
My guess is that Google's estimate of 0.2 grams of CO2 is closer to the truth than the 35-times higher figure of 7 grams cited in the press. After all they are secretive about their data centers and the extent of the green energy initiatives that they have taken, so I'd rather believe the version that we're getting from the horse's mouth, because everyone else's is simply a wild guess.
Google should however come clean about its own footprint and put an end to all guesswork. No one knows exactly the number of searches that are carried out, so we can't compute Google's footprint. The 2008 Year-End Zeitgeist has a very complete compilation of trends and favourite searches from "billions of search queries", but the key is how many billions are we exactly talking about.
Some sources claim that in 2008 there were about 350-700 billion search queries, which means that if we take the figure of 0.2 grams per search to be accurate, Google's total footprint is in the region of 70,000 to 140,000 tons of CO2.
This is not an awful lot: it is comparable to that of a small town with a population of about 10,000. It is a hell of a lot for one single company, but then I would guess that other global firms have a much larger footprint, especially if they produce physical goods.
My invitation to Google is: come clean with the figures, and get offsetting -- with Carbonica of course. Why not. At least we are not plugging this in a British rag.
Brunella Bell
brunella@carbonica.org
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