lgn1 - 3:28 pm on Jan 11, 2009 (gmt 0)

If we didn't have search engines, think of the amount of gas would be used, driving down to the local library.

Or if you are looking to buy something, ecommerce is enviromentally friendly. That UPS truck is driving by your house anyways, you might as well make another stop on his route rather than making a trip to the store, or worse go comparison shopping with the car.

Also, I suspect those numbers, 7 grams of CO2 per search are way out to lunch. Without power comsumption numbers from google, that physicist is just urinating in the wind.

I'm sure Google knows how to do load balancing, and most data centers are working at a good capacity.