This idiocy speaks for itself....  I suggest we shut down the Internet
to reduce carbon emissions.  Then idiots like this would lose their
world stage.

=================================

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5489134
.ece


From The Sunday TimesJanuary 11, 2009

Revealed: the environmental impact of Google searches

Physicist Alex Wissner-Gross says that performing two Google searches 
uses up as much energy as boiling the kettle for a cup of tea

Jonathan Leake and Richard Woods

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. 

While millions of people tap into Google without considering the 
environment, a typical search generates about 7g of CO2 Boiling a kettle 
generates about 15g. “Google operates huge data centres around the world 
that consume a great deal of power,” said Alex Wissner-Gross, a Harvard 
University physicist whose research on the environmental impact of 
computing is due out soon. “A Google search has a definite environmental 
impact.” 

Google is secretive about its energy consumption and carbon footprint. 
It also refuses to divulge the locations of its data centres. However, 
with more than 200m internet searches estimated globally daily, the 
electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions caused by computers 
and the internet is provoking concern. A recent report by Gartner, the 
industry analysts, said the global IT industry generated as much 
greenhouse gas as the world’s airlines - about 2% of global CO2 
emissions. “Data centres are among the most energy-intensive facilities 
imaginable,” said Evan Mills, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley 
National Laboratory in California. Banks of servers storing billions of 
web pages require power. 

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. 

While millions of people tap into Google without considering the 
environment, a typical search generates about 7g of CO2 Boiling a kettle 
generates about 15g. “Google operates huge data centres around the world 
that consume a great deal of power,” said Alex Wissner-Gross, a Harvard 
University physicist whose research on the environmental impact of 
computing is due out soon. “A Google search has a definite environmental 
impact.” 

Google is secretive about its energy consumption and carbon footprint. 
It also refuses to divulge the locations of its data centres. However, 
with more than 200m internet searches estimated globally daily, the 
electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions caused by computers 
and the internet is provoking concern. A recent report by Gartner, the 
industry analysts, said the global IT industry generated as much 
greenhouse gas as the world’s airlines - about 2% of global CO2 
emissions. “Data centres are among the most energy-intensive facilities 
imaginable,” said Evan Mills, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley 
National Laboratory in California. Banks of servers storing billions of 
web pages require power. 

Though Google says it is in the forefront of green computing, its search 
engine generates high levels of CO2 because of the way it operates. When 
you type in a Google search for, say, “energy saving tips”, your request 
doesn’t go to just one server. It goes to several competing against each 
other. 

It may even be sent to servers thousands of miles apart. Google’s 
infrastructure sends you data from whichever produces the answer 
fastest. The system minimises delays but raises energy consumption. 
Google has servers in the US, Europe, Japan and China. 

Wissner-Gross has submitted his research for publication by the US 
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and has also set up a 
website www.CO2stats.com. “Google are very efficient but their primary 
concern is to make searches fast and that means they have a lot of extra 
capacity that burns energy,” he said. 

Google said: “We are among the most efficient of all internet search 
providers.” 

Wissner-Gross has also calculated the CO2 emissions caused by individual 
use of the internet. His research indicates that viewing a simple web 
page generates about 0.02g of CO2 per second. This rises tenfold to 
about 0.2g of CO2 a second when viewing a website with complex images, 
animations or videos. 

A separate estimate from John Buckley, managing director of 
carbonfootprint.com, a British environmental consultancy, puts the CO2 
emissions of a Google search at between 1g and 10g, depending on whether 
you have to start your PC or not. Simply running a PC generates between 
40g and 80g per hour, he says. of CO2 Chris Goodall, author of Ten 
Technologies to Save the Planet, estimates the carbon emissions of a 
Google search at 7g to 10g (assuming 15 minutes’ computer use). 

Nicholas Carr, author of The Big Switch, Rewiring the World, has 
calculated that maintaining a character (known as an avatar) in the 
Second Life virtual reality game, requires 1,752 kilowatt hours of 
electricity per year. That is almost as much used by the average 
Brazilian. 

“It’s not an unreasonable comparison,” said Liam Newcombe, an expert on 
data centres at the British Computer Society. “It tells us how much 
energy westerners use on entertainment versus the energy poverty in some 
countries.” 

Though energy consumption by computers is growing - and the rate of 
growth is increasing - Newcombe argues that what matters most is the 
type of usage. 

If your internet use is in place of more energy-intensive activities, 
such as driving your car to the shops, that’s good. But if it is adding 
activities and energy consumption that would not otherwise happen, that 
may pose problems. 

Newcombe cites Second Life and Twitter, a rapidly growing website whose 
3m users post millions of messages a month. Last week Stephen Fry, the 
TV presenter, was posting “tweets” from New Zealand, imparting such 
vital information as “Arrived in Queenstown. Hurrah. Full of bungy 
jumping and ‘activewear’ shops”, and “Honestly. NZ weather makes UK look 
stable and clement”. 

Jonathan Ross was Twittering even more, with posts such as “Am going to 
muck out the pigs. It will be cold, but I’m not the type to go on about 
it” and “Am now back indoors and have put on fleecy tracksuit and two 
pairs of socks”. Ross also made various “tweets” trying to ascertain 
whether Jeremy Clarkson was a Twitter user or not. Yesterday the Top 
Gear presenter cleared up the matter, saying: “I am not a twit. And 
Jonathan Ross is.” 

Such internet phenomena are not simply fun and hot air, Newcombe warns: 
the boom in such services has a carbon cost. 

CMPQwk 1.42-21 9999 
Democrats --  The party responsible for the housing meltdown ....

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