It has also been increasingly transparent as writers and researchers have become more probing about the environmental impact of data. It seems that Google has been proactive in improving its environmental impact since before the launch of Ecosia. Their most recent Environmental Report also highlights the market-leading efficiency of Google data centers, proclaiming: ‘on average, a Google data center uses 50% less energy than a typical data center.’ They also announced they would buy enough renewable energy in 2017 to match 100% of their global consumption for operations.Įnvironmental concerns and sustainability are touted as core values for the search giant. In 2016 Google celebrated their tenth year of being carbon neutral.
Thanks to competitors such as Ecosia, it puts increased pressure on Google to keep its environmental cost in check. That said, Ecosia still has some work to do in competing with Bing and Google’s rich features, such as ‘Shop for…’ image packs when focusing in on sponsored results alone. Although, with further searches made across all three engines the difference between ad quantity becomes less noticeable. There’s something a little odd about using a search engine which is so environmentally virtuous, but which is also so ad-heavy. While Ecosia still uses Bing results and ads, it lags behind both Bing and Google for intuitive rich SERPs. Interestingly, this is quite different to the SERPs allocation on Bing which reserves sponsored listings for the foot of the page and favours a rich knowledge graph on the right-hand side – far more similar to what we see on Google. Bing accounts for the ads that appear on the service, while both Bing and Ecosia have a part to play in the organic algorithm.Īn example search for ‘car’ sees all the above-the-fold results on Ecosia being accounted for by ads (three in position 0 and three in the right-hand sidebar). Much of the engine itself is powered by Bing, although you need to make a search and scroll to the foot of the SERPs to discover this. SERPs are delivered with blue links on a white background, green URLs appear alongside them, as well as short descriptions of each page. How Ecosia compares with Google and Bing for usabilityĪt first sight, Ecosia is very similar to Google. Estimates from other sources have varied too but what matters is that more people are making searches more often than ever before. This is down from Google’s own estimate in 2009 that each search produces around 20g. Moll’s estimate is that each search produces 10g CO2. It’s amazing to see the CO2GLE ticker creep up to around 100,000 Kg in just a few minutes. When we can quantify and visualize what that impact is, we can really begin to process things. But performing a search is such a quick and simple task that we don’t turn our thoughts to the pollution we’ve just caused. The notion that search has an impact on the environment is not particularly surprising.
The number of searches is listed beneath the search box every time it’s used, so it is easy to keep track of how many trees have been planted.Market Research The Semrush Content Writing Workbook
So far, searches have contributed to the planting of 143 million trees across 35 reforestation sites worldwide, including Brazil, Indonesia and Madagascar. We are delighted that the university is supporting Ecosia - a ground-breaking social company, which puts people and planet before profit.”īy setting up Ecosia as the default search tool, UWE Bristol joins 26 universities globally that have done the same. Evan Botwood, president of the SU, said: “The idea was raised by our student sustainability committee who, on the back of successful campaigns at universities across the globe, were wanting positive and quick action.
This green shift was initiated by the SU and supported by students and staff at the university. If, at the click of a button, we are enabling the planting of trees worldwide, then we are benefiting both wildlife and people.” By doing so, we are enhancing the university’s actions in response to the ecological emergency. Paul Roberts, UWE Bristol’s head of environment and sustainability, said: “We are proud to be offering Ecosia as the default search engine for staff and students. For every 45 searches carried out on the search engine, one tree is planted. It uses the income earned from searches, through advertising, to work with local partners to plant native trees in areas of the world where they are most needed. The move by the university and The Students’ Union (SU) is another step towards planet friendly working at UWE Bristol.Įcosia is an alternative to other search engines and commits 100% of its profits to climate action, with at least 80% financing tree-planting projects. The University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) has switched its default search engine on campus computers to Ecosia, contributing to the planting of thousands of trees around the world.
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