(Sabine Lenz, PaperSpecs, will be a regular contributor to WhatTheyThink Going Green. Watch for her insights monthly.)
Two
Google searches equal one cup of tea...
Well, in the carbon footprint arena that is. As
the London Times reported earlier this month, a Harvard University physicist calculated that one Google search generates 7g of CO2. Or in real life terms - two searches equal the amount of CO2 it takes to bring a kettle to boil. Being British, the comparison is a sensible one, with tea being the official English currency ...
But let's be serious for a moment. It's always hard to believe and imagine something if it is not tangible, if it does not stare us right in the face. While 7g of Co2 may not sound like a lot, the report notes that Google handles about 200 million searches daily.
So we have to face the fact, that indeed, any browsing on the Internet, any Google or other search, starts an Internet chain reaction and causes greenhouse gases somewhere in the world.
At the recent
Business of Green Media Conference in San Luis Obispo,
Christina Page, director of Climate and Energy Strategy at
Yahoo!, gave us a clear insight into how big this effect actually is.
When Page started at Yahoo! a few years ago, her first assignment was to make a clear carbon footprint analysis. From the greenhouse gases caused by its 4,000+ employees traveling to and from work, to the heating and cooling of the buildings, to the carbon effects caused by air and other travels.
And what did Page find? Are you holding on to your seats? The result was that 92% - in words ninety-two percent - of Yahoo!'s carbon footprint was caused by the servers they're running in the U.S. and all over the world for that matter.
92%...
It goes without saying, that Yahoo! is actively working on reducing its carbon footprint. This reduction not only makes good environmental sense, but also good business sense.
The common consensus from all the experts I spoke to during the conference was that there are three ways to reduce a nation's carbon footprint:
- Command - This is what is done in Europe, where the government dictates and controls how much greenhouse gases a company can and does emit.
- Carbon Tax - All of the attendees agreed that it's just a matter of time until a carbon tax will be introduced. So the less carbon dioxide a company emits, the better for its bottom line.
- Carbon Offsets - One carbon offset represents the reduction/exchange of one metric ton of carbon dioxide, or its equivalent in other greenhouse gases.
In the eyes of the experts at the conference, we will see a mixture of carbon taxes and carbon offsets.
So a company working toward reducing its carbon footprint now will only benefit its bottom line in the long run, not to mention improving its public face. And not waiting to tackle the issue means companies can implement changes over time in a more thoughtful, efficient way.
About Sabine Lenz, Founder of PaperSpecs
Sabine Lenz, graphic designer and world traveler, had a "Eureka moment" during the development of a key project when she discovered after a long search that the ideal paper she had chosen from her library of swatchbooks was no longer available.
To prevent a repeat occurance, for herself and designers around the world, she launched
PaperSpecs, the first online paper database specifically developed for the design and print industries.
With access to information on more than 4,400 papers from over 70 mills, the latest promotions and mill swatchbooks, PaperSpecs has been titled "THE Paper resource" by Frank Romano, Prof Emeritus RIT.