Google has jumped to defend the energy efficiency of its search
service, after The Times newspaper
claimed a single Google search used half the equivalent energy
of boiling a kettle of water.
The paper used research from a Harvard University scientist who
reported on general web energy use. But Google said it should not
have been singled out by the paper and claims the energy use
generated by its searches was well below that described by the
paper.
Google said
in a blog, "As computers become a bigger part of more people's
lives, information technology consumes an increasing amount of
energy, and Google takes this impact seriously. That is why we have
designed and built the most energy efficient datacentres in the
world, which means the energy used per Google search is
minimal.
"In fact, in the time it takes to do a Google search, your own
personal computer will use more energy than Google uses to answer
your query."
Specifically responding to the The Times report, Google said,
"Recently, though, others have used much higher estimates, claiming
that a typical search uses 'half the energy as boiling a kettle of
water' and produces 7 grams of CO2.
"This number is many times too high. In terms of greenhouse
gases, one Google search is equivalent to about 0.2 grams of
CO2."