prompter: How much Co2 does an average google search create?

assistant: In terms of greenhouse gases, one Google search is equivalent to about 0.2 grams of CO2. As a reference, the current EU standard for tailpipe emissions calls for 140 grams of CO2 per kilometer driven, but most cars don't reach that level yet.

prompter: what？

assistant: What are you unsure about? Is there anything else I can help with?

assistant: What part of my reply should I clarify?

assistant: I'm sorry, I didn't understand your question. Can you please rephrase it?

assistant: The amount of CO2 generated by a single Google search is estimated to be around 0.2 grams of CO2 per search.

prompter: How was that calculated?

assistant: The calculation for the amount of CO2 created by a single Google search was determined by looking at the cumulative net global anthropogenic CO2 emissions up to date and estimating the amount of CO2 created by the energy used for a typical search. This estimate was then used to calculate that a single Google search produces an estimated 0.2 grams of CO2.

assistant: The estimate that an average Google search creates about 0.2 grams of CO2 comes from a 2009 study by physicist Alex Wissner-Gross. Wissner-Gross estimated the carbon footprint of a Google search by taking into account a number of factors, including the amount of energy required to power the user's computer or device, the energy required to transmit data over the internet, and the energy used by Google's servers to process the search query.

Wissner-Gross's calculation was based on the assumption that an average Google search used about 7 grams of CO2-equivalent, which includes both the direct and indirect carbon emissions associated with the search. He arrived at this number by estimating the amount of energy used by the average computer or device to conduct a search, as well as the energy used by the internet infrastructure to transmit the data.

Wissner-Gross then estimated the amount of energy used by Google's servers to process the search query, based on publicly available information about the company's data center operations. He concluded that the amount of energy used by Google's servers was relatively small compared to the energy used by the user's device and the internet infrastructure, so the overall carbon footprint of a Google search was primarily determined by those other factors.

Based on his calculations, Wissner-Gross estimated that an average Google search created about 0.2 grams of CO2-equivalent, which is a relatively small amount compared to other activities that contribute to carbon emissions. However, it's worth noting that this calculation is quite old and may not reflect current technology and energy consumption patterns.

assistant: This is calculated by how much energy is used by Google’s data centers, which process search queries from all over the globe.

assistant: Google accounts for about 40% of the CO2 emissions from internet operations, and conducts about 3.5 billion searches a day. Internet operations account for 3.5 percent of total emissions which as of 2022 was 37.12 billion metric tons. Working that backwards 37,120,000,000 × .035 = 1,299,200,000 metric tons of CO2 used in sustaining the internet. 1299200000 × 0.4 = 519680000 metric tons from Alphbet Inc. Alphabet inc is more than just Google search and without direct knowledge of which servers are running search we can't be exact, but 81% of their revenue comes from advertising on search platforms, this includes Youtube.com. It is right to include Youtube as a search engine owned by Alphabet. So the ESTIMATED yearly CO2 emissions is 519,680,000 ×.81 420,940,800 Metric tons or 1.484826578×10¹³ metric ounces. The company claims they serve 3.5 Billion searches per day which is roughly 1.2775×10¹² searches per year. So each search itself would generate 1.484826578×10¹³÷(3500000000×365) = 11.622908634 ounces of CO2.