Googling Harms the Earth?

Ronald Bailey | January 12, 2009

Google's unofficial motto is "Don't be evil." But by tempting people to search for information, the company causes people to sin ecologically by adding to gases to atmosphere that exacerbate man-made global warming. The Times (U.K.) reports:

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. 

But Google is not sinning alone: 

Nicholas Carr, author of The Big Switch, Rewiring the World, has calculated that maintaining a character (known as an avatar) in the Second Life virtual reality game, requires 1,752 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. That is almost as much used by the average Brazilian. 

Whole Times article here.