google_logo2.JPGA recent article published originally by a Sunday Times from London caused quite a stir for claiming that one Google search query generates seven grams of carbon dioxide. The figure is compared to the footprint of boiling a pot of water which averages 15 grams of carbon dioxide.

A study by Harvard physicist Alex Wissner-Gross is supposedly the source for the report. However, a newer story at TechNewsWorld aims to set the record straight, claiming the original study never mentioned Google. "For some reason, in their story on the study, the Times had an ax to grind with Google," says Wissner-Gross. The original research apparently focuses on web sites as a whole, determining that loading a web page takes 20 milligrams of carbon dioxide.

Before Wissner-Gross can refute what the Times wrote though, Google gave its side of the story in a post on its official blog. The search engine giant claims that through the use of its highly-efficient data centers, it takes only 0.0003 kWh of energy or 0.2 grams of carbon dioxide per search - a far cry from the claimed seven gram figure.