Much of that energy comes from power sources that emit carbon dioxide into the air as they burn fossil fuels; one study from 2015 suggests internet activity results in as much CO2 emissions as the global aviation industry. Searches on Google make up about 10 % of the internet ’s carbon footprint , which itself equals the emissions of the aviation industry , according to researcher David Moll . Power for servers , undersea cables , routers and switches comes from carbon dioxide - emitting fossil - fuel power sources . Google has not contested the claim and said it is designing energy - efficient data centres , but has said it is still not clear how much greenhouse gas search engines generate . The research concentrated on Google because of its size , but among other online businesses Facebook has admitted that its operations generate similar emissions to 77,500 US homes .
Searches on Google make up about 10 % of the internet ’s carbon footprint , which itself equals the emissions of the aviation industry , according to researcher David Moll . Power for servers , undersea cables , routers and switches comes from carbon dioxide - emitting fossil - fuel power sources . Google has not contested the claim and said it is designing energy - efficient data centres , but has said it is still not clear how much greenhouse gas search engines generate . The research concentrated on Google because of its size , but among other online businesses Facebook has admitted that its operations generate similar emissions to 77,500 US homes .