"Green" search engines Thread poster: inkweaver
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inkweaver 
Germany
Local time: 14:40
French to German
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Apparently one google search uses as much energy as an energy-saving light bulb does in one hour, since up to 1000 computers are involved in the search.
I was wondering if anybody of you has ever tried so-called "green" search engines such as znout.org or forestle.org which supposedly use environmentally friendly sources of energy like solar and wind power.
| | | | Alex Lago
Spain
Local time: 14:40
English to Spanish
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| Havent tried but find difficult to believe | Dec 11, 2009 |
I haven't tried any green search engines, but I find it very difficult to believe that a single search in Google can use so much energy.
Just the searches I do per day would cost a fortune in electricity bills and I am just one person, hundreds of millions connect to Google, so if each of their searches equated to one hour of a low watt bulb, say 10W you are talking about millions and millions of watts (Gigawatts) per day.
I would be interested in knowing where you got ... See more I haven't tried any green search engines, but I find it very difficult to believe that a single search in Google can use so much energy.
Just the searches I do per day would cost a fortune in electricity bills and I am just one person, hundreds of millions connect to Google, so if each of their searches equated to one hour of a low watt bulb, say 10W you are talking about millions and millions of watts (Gigawatts) per day.
I would be interested in knowing where you got this information from. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mauricio Zoch
Argentina
Local time: 09:40
English to Turkish
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| Matthieu Moroni
France
Local time: 14:40
Member (2008)
German to French
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| Black search engine | Dec 11, 2009 |
Google is efficient and offers many helpful options for targeted searches. That's why I could not do without it...
However, it is possible to continue using Google while consuming less energy:
use Google with a black background: http://google-black.sup.fr/
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Alex Lago
Spain
Local time: 14:40
English to Spanish
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Thanks for that Mauricio, quite interesting, I don't doubt that Google might make these on the "low side", but the se number seem a lot more likely that the amount mentioned by inkweaver
| | | | Erik Freitag
Germany
Local time: 14:40
Member (2006)
Dutch to German
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| Alex Lago
Spain
Local time: 14:40
English to Spanish
+ ...
Matthieu Moroni wrote: Google is efficient and offers many helpful options for targeted searches. That's why I could not do without it... However, it is possible to continue using Google while consuming less energy: use Google with a black background: http://google-black.sup.fr/
Hi matthieu
You can also achieve this directly with Firefox (best web browser in my opinion, but that would be for another thread) and visiting Google directly.
Install a GreaseMonkey script called Google Dark that automatically reverses the color scheme when visiting the authentic Google site. For a more generic approach, go to 'Tools > Options > Content > Fonts & Colours > Colours' and change the default color background and text to any desired color; if you implement this option you should uncheck the box that says "Allow pages to choose their own colors, instead of my selections above".
| | | | inkweaver
Germany
Local time: 14:40
French to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | The figure... | Dec 11, 2009 |
was stated in a special edition on energy of a German magazine aimed at children and youths. I don't know if it is true or not, but I always thought its articles to be quite well researched.
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Mauricio Zoch
Argentina
Local time: 09:40
English to Turkish
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| Ivan Nekic
Croatia
Local time: 14:40
German to Croatian
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I see on their page, znout.org actually uses "Google Custom Search", that means, they also use Google's servers with same energy efficiency, just want make money with their own banners...
| | | | | Sources please? | Dec 11, 2009 |
inkweaver wrote:
Apparently one google search uses as much energy as an energy-saving light bulb does in one hour, since up to 1000 computers are involved in the search.
What are your sources for this? Can you please share?
To me it sounds like a hoax or the feverish calculation of an environmentalist who had too little sleep. But please share your sources about this.
Thanks a lot in advance!
| | | | Amy Duncan (X)
Brazil
Local time: 09:40
Portuguese to English
+ ...
| Black may not save energy but it saves my eyes | Dec 11, 2009 |
I'm using: www.cleanblack.com. With this one you can change the text colors.
[Edited at 2009-12-11 22:58 GMT]
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inkweaver
Germany
Local time: 14:40
French to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | The amount of energy used ... | Dec 12, 2009 |
does not refer to the energy your own computer uses, but to the amount of energy the search engine needs to provide results for a search since - so they say - it needs up to 1000 computers for one single search.
This may or may not be true - it is just what I read in my daughter's magazine which appears to be respectable enough, but perhaps you can't trust anybody these days and this is indeed another urban myth.
| | | | | The actual source - Let's find out! | Dec 12, 2009 |
inkweaver wrote:
This may or may not be true - it is just what I read in my daughter's magazine which appears to be respectable enough, but perhaps you can't trust anybody these days and this is indeed another urban myth.
OK. It may be respectable enough, but it is still important to know what their sources are. Was it information provided by Google, some study on the matter, ...?
I insist in this matter of the sources because we much too often make decisions about things based on information supplied by a lobby or a group that manages to pass their truth as THE truth. A good example is the number of people who speak esperanto. Everybody says that esperanto could be spoken by 2 million people, and you see this figure everywhere. I have asked about the source of this figure many times, and I always get the same result: in the end, it all refers to a study carried out by Prof. Sidney S. Culbert, a known esperantist who carried out a rather small study on the matter. Ever since he published his truth, it has been taken for granted as there are no other sources of information about it.
Maybe this is the case with these 1000 computers for a search... Would you mind emailing the magazine to ask them about their source, and let us know? We might be surprised!
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