Last but not least: Googling harms the environment
Environmental protection may be a top priority at Google, but the search engine's number-one service causes more pollution than you might think.
A study by Berlin-based IT service provider Strato concludes that a search query on Google consumes as much electricity as an energy-saving lamp needs to light up for one hour. The IT industry's contribution to CO2 emissions is equal to that of air traffic. This means that the global energy consumption of the IT industry and its users is seriously underestimated in the whole discussion about climate protection. Although the study comes to the conclusion that overall CO2 is of course also being saved thanks to digital communication, this is still only minimal in comparison to CO2 emissions. The only question is how we consumers and daily Internet and computer users want to and can reduce these emissions?
