Carbon Footprint of Searching

I have now arrived back home from my jaunt half way across the world which in several ways was enlightening and action packed, yet emission full, but neutralised. I have some photos to upload later including initiatives like "No Straw Day".

But no sooner than I am back home is a new search engine is launched, once again this new venture is promising to offset CO2 emissions and for free. From the calculations of the company that developed the site, a search query emits less than a single gram of CO2. With the use of personal computers this rises up to almost 18g (based on the most energy consuming desktops).

For each query completed through the Carbon Neutral Search Engine they will offset CO2 emissions by a minimum of 100g via Climate Care. Having tried out the site from the Blackle.com style black background with similar totaliser, it seems to be a different way to make a small difference. Just a quick calculation on the back of an envelope if the 37 billion searches that Google processed in August were carried out through the site, that would result in 370 000 tonnes of CO2 offset, not to mention by the end of the year Google will be carbon neutral themselves, so in some cases this would result in additional carbon savings, although small as the search is powered by Google.

Still a little grudging towards offsetting, having checked out the Climate Care website when thinking about my flight offsetting they did change my perception somewhat, with projects not just having emissions reductions but in many cases helping in developing nations improve standards and quality of life, and in any case project which can be combine all this, added with the free use from completing a daily task providing the user with service, is a positive way to make a small difference on a daily basis without contemplation.