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September 8, 2008 10:38:59 AM CDT

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Program Tracks Web's CO2 Emissions

Posted Nov 16, 07 5:43 PM CST in Science & Health,  Technology 

(Newser) – If you're reading this, you're contributing to climate change. That's the message of two PhD students who have created a widget to calculate how much carbon dioxide Web sites generate. Operators can download and install the free program on their sites and then buy an equivalent amount of carbon offsets, reports the San Jose Mercury News.

The creators say the Internet causes the release of more than 100 billion pounds of Co2  per year. The widget calculates how much electricity goes into powering the servers running a site as well as the computers of people accessing that site. The software, launched Oct. 24, is now on 251 sites.

Source San Jose Mercury News

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Internet  • climate change  • global warming  • carbon emissions  • software  • widget


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