Using computers and searching the web produces carbon dioxide, from all the electricity used to run the internet as well as make the infrastructure and support it. Thankfully, there are a lot of green search engines out there helping to green the planet while you surf the web. Some plant trees, others give to charities and some offer black screens to minimize the amount of electricity used when visiting your favourite websites. We have compiled a list of the top green search engines.
Blackle
A Google-powered search engine created by Heap Media offering a black screen for searching the web. The black screen offers a small savings in energy due to reduced light used to ‘white’ the screen. http://www.blackle.com/
Click4Carbon
A Google-powered search engine and a for-profit business based in the UK that works to fund environmental projects managed by the Plant A Tree Today Foundation with the revenues generated by the site. http://www.click4carbon.com/
Climate Gift
A search engine that donates 50% of its gross revenue directly to the charitable organization of your choice. http://www.climategift.com/
Earthle
An environmentally friendlier version of Google with a black screen. The basic premise is that if humans around the world were to start using Earthle (instead of standard Google) it would save an estimated 750 Megawatt-hours of electricity a year. http://www.earthle.com/
Ecofind
A Google-powered search engine that is also saving electricity by using a black screen with white letters. http://www.eco-find.com/
Ecocho
A carbon neutral green search engine that plants two trees for every 1000 searches. Powered by Yahoo technology and there is also a black screen version available. http://www.ecocho.ca/
Eco Seek
A search engine for green products. They have an index of over 10,000 earth friendly products. http://www.ecoseek.net/
Eco Search
A non-profit charity that works to preserve the environment by donating to green charities and spreading the word about the charities. Eco Search uses Google technology. http://ecosearch.org/
Friends Green
A Yahoo-technology eco-search engine that purchases square footage of the rainforest while you search. The more you search, the more rainforest you save. http://friendsgreen.com/
Green Planet Search
Definitely the flashiest of the green search engines. http://www.greenplanetsearch.com/
Green Gamma
A cool search engine and directory for green services, products and information. http://www.greengamma.com/
Gooef
Another black screen search engine powered by Google-technology that handpicks green blogs and websites. http://www.gooef.com/
Geofeat
A green product search directory run on 100% solar energy. http://geofeat.com/
Good Tree
A search engine that allows users to support their favourite charities while searching the web. http://www.goodtree.com/
Green Maven
A search engine with a focus on green and sustainable websites. They also offer a Green News Reader and a Green Directory. http://www.greenmaven.com/
Greenona
A search engine that helps you find the latest green resources online. http://www.greenona.com/
Green Link Central
A human-edited green search engine that offers the best of the green products, services, news, and information available online. http://www.greenlinkcentral.com/
Green Terroir
They donate 100% of its profits towards carbon offsets and land conservation (i.e. purchase of land for organic gardens or green spaces). http://greenterroir.org/
Greenergle
A Google-based search engine offering a black screen and subsequent energy savings. http://www.greenergle.com/
The Greensearch.ca
A eco-search engine that searches Canadian environment-related web sites. http://www.thegreenpages.ca/
Treehoo!
A green search engine that invests 70% of their net profit to plant trees and fight global warming. http://www.treehoo.com/
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written by Keith Marlow , July 14, 2009