Have you ever though that a search on Google would use a significant amount of power?  The recent mini-controversy asked Google just exactly how much power a search on their engine really uses.

The answer?: 0.0003 kilowatt hours per search according to an approximation (or about 1kJ).

“For comparison, the average adult needs about 8,000 kJ a day of energy from food, so a Google search uses just about the same amount of energy that your body burns in 10 seconds,” Mr. Hölzle vice president of Google operations had written.

Of course the estimations did not stop here, Hölzle went on to estimate that an average car driven one kilometre generates as many greenhouse gasses as 1,000 Google searches.

Though Google, gasp, uses energy like an other country, the millions of searches each day don’t add up to the environmental effects of most other companies.  Besides, wouldn’t driving to the library to look up the information cost more economic toll than searching?