Sunday, June 28, 2009

I was wondering why it was getting warmer as I typed

According to research from Harvard University, two searches on Google produce the same amount of carbon dioxide as that of a boiling kettle. Yep, it is believed that each Google search throws off 7 grams of carbon. The research bases this off the theory that the power used by both the user's computer and Google's data center and multiple servers used for each query.

I must admit, this is pretty heady research. I can see the Harvard student who gets his/her doctorate degree from doing this study when asked "So what was the thesis that put you over the top to getting your doctorate" - "Yeah, I computed how much carbon dioxide is generate per Google search." That's definitely something to be proud of; way to put that Harvard education to good use! Yeah, I know, I'm just being jealous because I didn't get into Harvard - I'm sure the researchers on this particular project will be making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year when they graduate or working in the rain forest making $100 a month studying tree frogs.

Here's the article for all those that are interested.

1 comment:

Le said...

I wonder how much carbon you produce in having a blog.... Or how much I produce playing on amazon... I now have 10.21 with like 1.20 more pending. It is exciting!