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Newspaper reporters from the Sunday Times claimed that the results of a Harvard University study showed that two web searches – namely those on Google – used as much carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle. The generally well informed paper opened the story with:

“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.”

What they failed to mention is that the physicist who did the study, Alex Wissner-Gross, never actually mentioned Google in his study. Online technology website TechNewsWorld spoke to Wissner-Gross:

“For some reason, in their story on the study, the Times had an ax to grind with Google…Our work has nothing to do with Google. Our focus was exclusively on the Web overall, and we found that it takes on average about 20 milligrams of CO2 per second to visit a Web site.”

Wissner-Gross also rubbished the newspapers claims that the searches caused as much carbon dioxide as a kettle: “I have no idea where they got those statistics,” he said.

Google have set loose the PR machine to ensure they don’t get damaged by the news. Company spokesman, Jamie Yood said that the co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are “really dedicated” to pursuing greener technologies.

Yood Acknowledges that the company is using energy and from a business perspective it, “makes sense to get this energy cost as low as possible”.

“They recognize that if we’re going to use energy, let’s try to figure out how to do this as minimally as possible”, he added.

The company does make an effort. Electric cars and bikes for employees are used on and around the company’s Californian headquarters, and they use recycled materials throughout their buildings. Yood adds that they have the most energy efficient data centres.

Google is none too please about the kettle allegations, claiming that a search uses the same amount of energy as the human body uses in around ten seconds. Google have requested a copy of the study from Wissner-Gross, who plans to send them one.

Yood says that the Times reporters interviewed a data centre manager, but never made use of the information he gave them, preferring a more sensationalist story over fact.

The technology Google’s search functions use allows any user to retrieve almost any information they require – so long as there is a web page on the subject. The energy required will differ depending on the depth of a search. For example if someone were to search for “Angelina Jolie” there will be millions of instantly available pages as its likely to be on multiple servers at the edge of the network, but if someone were to ask for something obscure like “Ben Afflecks career” then the search would use a deeper part of the network, causing higher energy usage.

Wissner-Gross has had the press hounding him since his study results were published by the Sunday Times. The paper correctly quoted Wissner-Gross as saying, “A Google search has a definite environmental impact” and “Google operates huge data centers around the world that consume a great deal of power.”

Defending what he said, Wisner-Gross said believes that people would not disagree with that statement. “Everything online has a definite environmental impact. I think everybody can agree on that, including Google”, he said

TechNewsWorld asked him why he reckons the Times focused on his study, and in particular Google.

“The short answer is, it’s a really easy way to sell papers. Google is a very successful company and it’s a very easy way to get readership by making grandiose claims about them,” he concluded