I recently read an interesting article at CNN.com
about the greening of the Internet. In particular, Google has actually
estimated that the carbon footprint of doing a Google search is 0.2 grams. This
may seem like a trivial number, but think of how many times a Google search
happens on the Internet every second of the day around the world? No wonder Google
is going green – good on ‘em.
The reality is that this kind of analysis
and subsequent action is necessary now and in the near future to determine how
best each and every person and business can do something about their impact on
the climate crisis.
Yes, as homeowners, we change light bulbs
and drive less, but businesses can certainly learn from this kind of analysis,
and who better than Google to be put out there as a poster child for progress.
Ten years ago, Google was just a twinkle in
the eye of the general public, as was the climate crisis. And now Google are
doing a number of things to go green, check out of a few of them here.
And Google isn’t alone.
IT companies like Cisco Systems are also
taking the green lead, in their own operations, but also with their products
and services. Cisco are at the leading
edge of the smart
grid and offer great CO2 savings services such as TelePresence.
Companies like Cisco and Google live in a high
cycle time industry – things change fast. They have to change fast to stay
ahead of the competition, and they also are changing fast to address the
climate crisis.
So, the next time you Google something
think of that 0.2 grams, but more importantly, search for something that can help
you save more than 0.2 grams of greenhouse gas emissions, like ‘how to save
energy’. I’ll spend 0.2 grams to save a few hundred – why don’t you?