Posted by
BLOGASSAULT on Monday, January 26, 2009 10:48:48 AM
I didn't blog in this when I saw the orginial article, because I thought it was stupid. Now the
Numbers Guy over at the WSJ puts his two cents worth in.
First, the relatively new science of measuring carbon emissions is neither standardized nor finalized. Then there’s the opportunity “cost,” in emissions, of seeking information some other way. For searches that aren’t borne of idle curiosity, the alternative may be a series of phone calls or an in-person hunt. “If you have something that can transfer electrons quickly and efficiently, that’s more efficient than trying to move around atoms, like yourself to a shopping mall,” Erik Teetzel, one of the engineers who work on data-center efficiency for Google, told me. And it’s unclear whether to measure just emissions by Google’s servers, or also those generated at all stages in between them and the end user.
As you can read here, this whole debate is ridiculous.
Why do the greenies feel the need to calculate the environmental impact of every single thing we as humans do? Are they trying to guilt everybody into being more like them, or are they trying to make headlines with their agenda so they can "change the world"?
The fact is, most things exert energy at some point and emissions are sometimes the result of that energy release.
Let's give it a rest already.