How Green is Google?
by Eric Kane, New York, NY on 10.19.06
A quick look through TreeHugger’s archives will yield numerous stories about Google’s efforts to address sustainability. The company's impressive array of environmental initiatives, including a recent plan for a massive solar installation at is campus, would lead most readers to believe that Google is emerging as model of sustainability. However, an article in Tuesday’s New York Times may present a different view of how much Google’s founders truly value environmental sustainability. The article is about a growing trend among the ultra rich to purchase jumbo jets for private use. Although the article focuses on the growing market for customized private 757, 767, and 777 jets, it happens to mention that Goolge founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, are among those who partake in this entirely unsustainable indulgence. The two internet billionaires purchased a used 767, and spent millions to convert it into a private jet. To provide some context, a 767 burns roughly 7,000 gallons of jet fuel on a trip between New York and San Francisco. In general, its difficult to determine the company’s motivation for its sustainability initiatives, but this certainly suggests that Google may be more interested in public relations than becoming a true model of sustainability.
So what.
So, because of the acts of one of their CEO's, the entire company's push towards sustainability is nothing more than a PR move? Frankly it doesn't matter how bad two CEOs live on the environmental scale. At least their huge company is changing for the better.
Eric, if this is a company plane then I agree with your statements. If it is a private plane, then I think that they are doing the right thing at work and the wrong thing for the environment in their private lives. And I can't quite decide which is worse - to greenwash one's company or to privately jet around in a flying jumbo home for pleasure.
Or is the whole solar thing just to save money to buy a second jet? LOL
They could just drop the whole sustainability gimic. That would be GREAT for the environment. How about I just dump my Prius because I own a (perfect running order) 15 year old gas lawn mower.
If 95% of Americans and 99% of women in general didn't think having a private airliner was totally fabulous and sexually attractive they probably wouldn't do it. It's society's fault.
The uber-rich are just as likely to try to outdo the Joneses as anyone else, unfortunately this means conspicuous consumption at the grotesque level. I am sure the founders of google have tiny penises.
I will now use google once less per day as punishment to these idiots.
I think they should keep their renewable energy programs and chuck the jumbo jet. They should be applauded for the green efforts they make at Google and harshly criticized for the negative things that they do - and if this is a company plane, then this easily falls into that category of things that needs to be lambasted. Because one does a few green things does not excuse away all the non-green things one does. Just like owning and driving a Prius does not excuse owning a huge energy-inefficient McMansion or even a gasoline mower. I applaud that you made the financial sacrifice to buy a Prius, but you can't really expect Treehuggers to stop lambasting gasoline mowers - especially if it is one of those huge tractor-looking ones. Don't chuck the Prius, just the mower.
LOL brennan! I too pledge to use Google one fewer time per day. Take that, capitalist pigs!
ps: Must admit, having just spent an ungodly amount of time in over-crowded, over-heated airports and airplanes, my first reaction on seeing the photo of the Google jet was: Man, that looks comfortable and civilized!
I kinda wish google would be more creative then just pimping out a jumbo jet. How about funding the Aeros corp, and build a tricked out google blimp.
http://www.aerosml.com/aeros-ml.asp
They could have at least done a green interior and how about some solar panels on the airplane? Maybe they could have hybrid-jet engines that stop running when they are coasting through the air, like a 767 glider/jet-plane? And we must all remeber just a short while ago we did not have hybrid cars like Prius. So they had limited choices on what kind of uber-ride they wanted. Peace out.
It's definitely a bad thing and it's part of a larger trend. Anybody who has read my comments on airplane use knows I'm no enemy of aircraft, when used at proper passenger densities.
But this is ridiculous. The least they could do if they had any concern for the environment is "get by" with a large corporate jet instead, such as a Global Express, which would burn less than 1/3 the fuel and be extremely comfortable by any sensible measure. It wouldn't be green but it wouldn't be criminally wasteful, which is what this thing is.
Put another way, while granting within our economic system the notion that multi-billion dollar company CEOs can indulge in personal jet travel, there is no excuse for this level of waste. Any claims they may make of being green are thus no more than an illusion, or a fraud.
0.00000000945
If annual US energy consumption is 1, then that number above is the amount of energy used to fly a 767 from San Francisco to New York.
if you want to avoid using them altogether try scroogle. google without the jumbo jets, activity tracking, advertisements, and computer microphone eavesdropping.
"
0.00000000945
If annual US energy consumption is 1, then that number above is the amount of energy used to fly a 767 from San Francisco to New York."
Are you saying nobody should feel personally responsible for their energy use because it's small compared to the whole?
It's amazing to me how this site can boast of "treehugging" and how fuels are being burned, houses are too big in order to actually conserve any real energy, yet movie and tv star personalities alike are continually splattered across the pages to prove what? That they own houses that are many times over larger than anything I, and many readers here, will ever own and yet, THEY'RE okay. THEY are the good guys.
I am at a loss as to what the boundaries are for being a good "green" person are. Contradictions run amuck. Please help me understand because I strive to be a green person and get confused. Should I own a 10,000 sq ft house so long as I am a celebrity and donate a few of my fortunes to being green? If that's the criteria then it seems that Google execs meet those little standards. Please add clarity.
I think they are.
It's like the argument "there's no point voting because i'm only 1 out of millions!"
But somehow the government gets in..... ;)
A story told by James Howard Kunstler.
He lectured at Google headquarters. He could tell they weren't buying his spiel about peak oil. Someone said, "Dude, technology will save us."
Kunstler then produced a picture of a large jet liner and said, "Dude, this doesn't run on technology."
Kunstler also said that by the way they were using the word "Dude" that they meant asshole.
Interesting comment George. I'm a computer science student, so I know that there are a fair number of socially bad apples amongst CS students. These are people who phrase every question or remark in a condescending way and have a very abrasive personality. Not everyone is like this, but I think CS has a larger number than the general public.
I am planning on e-mailing Google.org, Google's philanthropic arm, and telling them about the benefits of Carfree cities. Right now I'd just like to plant the seed, and not necessarily get any commitments.
Also, I'm excusing the jet, but having a jet and a system of solar panels is better than having a jet and not having the solar panels. Also you can refer to my post in the last Google topic about the bicycle commuting they encourage and their biodiesel powered shuttle for employees.
Andrew
PS: I'm wearing a Google t-shirt now, so I'm not unbiased.
I think it's great that google even makes sustainable efforts at this point. I heard from friends of google execs that they are doing some great things--they treat employees right, they serve organic, raw foods on campus, etc.
That sounds a lot better than Walmart.
Now that somebody has a jet everybody is protesting their GREEN efforts all together? Come on! Even if they recycle paper, that's better than most companies and we need to focus on and encourage the good stuff and not the bad.
Not saying we need to give them the Green medal but doing something green is better than not doing anything at all. That goes for celebs, too. They all might have big elaborate homes, but if they are even driving a prius then that's progress. Most people still eat fast food and drive SUVs...
But enlightenment is good. This post was informative and interesting...
At least they DID NOT EACH BUY A 767.
Think about that...they are already 50% efficient than many other billionaires!
I think i'll just stick to biogoogle.net
We all hope Google go carbon neutral - but we can use a carbon neutral search engine now as part of our daily routine
www.searchgreener.com is the green search engine - quality Google search but with a darker screen for reduced emissions use AND uses all money made to buy carbon offsets to make searching neutral or make a positive contribution to climate change
We hope you'll all use it to make a difference
Any site that is an imitation of Google but is black only works for crt monitors which are the chunky ones. For LCD screens which most people have don't save energy. If you want to save energy use http://biogoogle.net as the actual servers run on renewable energy.