When i first read Ali’s post ‘Surfs up’ about Google’s CO2 emissions i have to admit i was kind of edgy, i mean i work in digtal marketing and Google takes up 8 hours of my day, every day and most weekends (sad i know). According to the report i was making the CO2 version of 1,000’s of cups of tea a day, and even though i love tea, i couldnt drink that much even if it had been sold to me by the delicious Mr Stephen Fry. No, i read the post and i huffed and puffed and avoided my laptop for a while and then i sat down and thought about it.

Googles carbon footprint calculator

I mean, when i comes to the grand scheme of things, Google do pretty well as a provider of their magnitude so much so that they have a full time person that maintains the data centers to keep them running as effectively and as eco friendly (i suppose you would say) as possible. Apparantly the Times were given an interveiw with one of these people, but it never saw the light of day. Now of course, you’ll say i am going to defend Google, i work in the industry and run a blog. Your right, but, i also took some time to look at the bigger picture of all global industry.

Greenhouse gas emissions per sector for 1 year

As you can see from the above chart we have alot of areas to target, Google is merely a tip of the dwindling ice berg and one that unlike some of the other industry’s would not be allowed to get away with cutting corners “i’m guessing anyway”.

I do however totally agree with Ali, that we should all be more mindful of our usage and extend that into our off line lives to make up for our usage on line. Minkbaby are looking to set up a monitor very soon to check our impact and i imagine with the new light shed on Google that they will be considering alternatives to power its huge data centers if it hasnt already.

I have to admit that my eye is firmly on alternative energy at the moment and i am considering, given the examples of author ‘James Lovelock’ that nuclear is quite likely our only real chance of making a difference at such a late stage of the game.

Nite folks, sleep well.. and to others good morning. I’ll get my nuclear post out later in the week, i’m still chewing over the whole idea.

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