I've just read a report that says that every time you do two Google searches, it produces the same amount of carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle for a cup of tea. Wow. That's a lot of tea. Or rather a lot of carbon dioxides!
The problem is we're addicted to Google(replace the search engine of your choice here). Not addicted in a "a little bit of a therapy, and I can give it up" kind of way, but the "I just can't live without it" way.
Just today, I was trying to install CruiseControl.NET. I installed IIS, then installed Cruise Control, then tried to bring up the Web Dashboard.
Now what? Well, 2 minutes and half a cup of tea later I had my answer. It's a problem with IIS when installed after the .NET framework. Just run the following command in the framework folder (my case c:\windows\microsoft.net\framework\v2.0.50727)
aspnet_regiis -i
This apparently resets all the necessary registry keys. I tried this, and viola, it worked.
What did we use to do before the Internet and Google? I don't think they used to pay us enough for the job we did. I would have had to go out, to the local bookstore, and find a book about Continuous Integration, buy it, and hope it covered that particular problem. How many cups of tea would that have involved?
I say we should just give up on tea!
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7 comments:
The amazing thing is that there are people that are interested that tea or google create CO2. For all the end of the world types, I'll be creating a screen saver that just searchs google to generated more CO2. The trees will be happy.
In Denmark I've also seen this article about carbon emmision - a very popular one apparently ?
In my view, a total useless information !
What am I suppose to do with that information ? Don't use google anymore. As you suggest - I could use my car to go to the library - naah. Not a real alternative.
So, what the point of that information :) ?
Google responded on their blog (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/powering-google-search.html). Turns out a google search doesn't produce the claimed 7 grams of CO2, it produces 0.2 grams.
This (old hat) information's indeed interesting - not for a programmer, though, but for an analyst.
It's a kind of "economic and environmental performance indicator"
just like the "Big Mac Index" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index)
Hence, improvements in computer and software engineering technologies should be reflected in this indicator... in other case, we're doing something wrong.
Or does it?
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/245312/scientist-slams-google-carbon-claims.html
Guilt.
The entire exercise is designed to make you feel guilty so you will support the "carbon footprint" industry which is developing all over the world.
Gee...I wonder how much carbon is produced every time I compile my code, maybe I should only compile once a day...yeah right.
It doesn't really matter how much CO2 a "click" on the search button is "producing".
The argument "driving to the library would produce even more ..." isn't suitable as well.
Relativeness!
In other words:
How often are peoples "searching for nothing"?
Google may be efficient (or not?)... but OUR "Click" behavior as consumer is definitively not really environmentally acceptable
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