How much CO2 does a Google search generate?

How much CO2 does a Google search generate?

Google came under fire recently with a Harvard University academic claiming that the company produces as much CO2 as it is generated while boiling a kettle for conducting just two searches on their engine.

Google has now defended themselves in a blog post on this issue.

A company representative had this to say on the Google Blog:

We thought it would be helpful to explain why this number is *many* times too high. Google is fast — a typical search returns results in less than 0.2 seconds. Queries vary in degree of difficulty, but for the average query, the servers it touches each work on it for just a few thousandths of a second. Together with other work performed before your search even starts (such as building the search index) this amounts to 0.0003 kWh of energy per search, or 1 kJ. For comparison, the average adult needs about 8000 kJ a day of energy from food, so a Google search uses just about the same amount of energy that your body burns in ten seconds.

Checkout more information: Powering a Google search