environmental impact of google searches

a dated article but fascinating, and worrying, nonetheless. might we end up with a tragedy of the internet commons? with marginal cost (to the user) of creating webpages, facebooking, twitting and uploading media practically zero, there is no incentive for responsible data creation (let alone deletion - for instance, my geocities webpage from eons ago is now a digital fossil). so the trend seems to be continued exponential increases in the stock of internet data (and junk - whats the useful vs junk ratio?), which may well result in exponential increases in the computing power required to trawl through it all, and ultimately exponential increases in the energy required/carbon footprint per search. and don't forget, all these bits and bytes have to be stored as well - what of the energy requirements/carbon footprint of data storage? yes, we all know moore's law has saved us till now, but have we the confidence that it will continue to save us indefinitely?

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5489134.ece

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of the environment, technology, digital revolution, digital consumption, digital production