Google Searches As Bad As Flying

For several years it has worried me about the mindless way in which we keep computers purring by continually firing off queries and searches into cyberspace. What is the environmental cost of these seemingly banal actions? Well to-day Offsetters which keeps track of unsustainable practices gives this assessment which confirms my fears. Google searches i.e. any computer searches, contribute as much to carbon emissions as the airline industry. YARGH! Here is the short e-mail item which addressed the issue;

"CBC Radio recently interviewed our sourcing director, Morgan McDonald, for his thoughts on a report by a Harvard physicist claiming that each individual Google search is responsible for about 7 grams of carbon dioxide emissions. According to this report, if you conduct two Google searches your emissions are roughly the same as boiling a kettle. This report went 'viral' online (ironically) and has understandably caused some controversy. Morgan pointed out that whether or not these figures are accurate, it is important to realize that using computers and having a so-called 'paperless' office isn't necessarily emissions free. The popularity of this article has played an important role in making people think about the emissions associated with computing, which by some estimates are the same as those from the entire aviation industry."
Source; Offsetters Newsletter, February 2009