Harvard Physicist Sets Record Straight on Internet Carbon Study
A Harvard researcher spent much of Monday setting the record
straight about his research and how it relates to Google's
energy consumption. A Sunday Times of London story reported that
conducting two Google searches generates as much carbon dioxide
as boiling water, though the researcher denies singling out
Google. A story in the Sunday Times of London sent Google's
public relations machine into an advanced search for answers.
The Times reporters wrote about a new Harvard study that
examines the energy impact of Web searches. The story's lead
paragraph: "Performing two Google searches from a desktop
computer can generate about the same amount of carbon dioxide as
boiling a kettle for a cup of tea, according to new research."
One problem: the study's author, Harvard University physicist
Alex Wissner-Gross, says he never mentions Google in the study.
"For some reason, in their story on the study, the Times had an
ax to grind with Google," Wissner-G