Making every Internet search as green as possible with Ekoru.org
We don’t often think about it, but every action including Internet searches has an environmental cost. Recent estimates are that searches on Google produce 500 kg of CO2 every second. Joana Moll created C02GLE to visualize how much C02 is generated from searches on Google.com.
That is why Ekoru.org decided to place our servers in data centers powered by hydro-electricity. The run of the river plant uses the natural flow of water of the river to generate electricity without the need for a dam or reservoir which may have adverse environmental impacts. Your searches are delivered to you from servers 300 meters away from the hydro-electric plant in Beauharnois Quebec.
In addition to the green power source, the data center uses air and water cooling to eliminate the need for air conditioners and fans. Tubes filled with fluid draw heat from the servers keeping them cool and operating at a healthy temperature.
Since it costs 2.9 kWh of energy to transmit 1 GB of data on a 3G mobile device, we’ve gone further and optimized our software code to make the pages delivered to your phone or computer as small as possible.
This of course doesn’t factor in the power sources of the device you’re using or your Internet service provider, but we’re doing our bit. If everyone does their part, we will have a more environmentally-friendly and sustainable internet that minimizes the impact on the environment.
Oh yeah, and we use your searches to help clean oceans too. So make a difference today and change your search engine to Ekoru.org!
