03 Dec 2009
Internet users will from today be able to help protect the rainforest while they search, according to the company behind a new search engine dubbed as the world's greenest.
The Ecosia search engine is based on technology from Yahoo and Bing, which will provide the search results and sponsored links for the site. But unlike conventional search engines, the company has pledged to donate at least 80 per cent of the income it generates from sponsored links to WWF rainforest protection projects in Brazil's Amazonas region.
"Thanks to sponsored links, search engines earn billions every year," said Christian Kroll, founder of the Berlin-based firm. "Ecosia believes that there is a more eco-friendly way of using these huge profits and that the money would be better used to fight global warming."
A spokesman for WWF said the green search model had the potential to become a major source of funding for environmental projects. "Each search with Ecosia will protect a piece of rainforest, so by making Ecosia your search engine you can actually help the environment one search at a time," he said. "An average internet user can protect about 2,000 square metres of rainforest every year by using Ecosia – this is about the size of an ice hockey field. If only one per cent of global internet users accessed Ecosia for their web searches, we could save a rainforest area as big as Switzerland each year."
The company said that users could also install Ecosia as their default search engine, adding that once installed it would provide them with a personal record of how much rainforest they have saved by using the site.
Ecosia has been quick to label the new search engine as the world's greenest, but it enters into an increasingly crowded green search sector where a number of organisations are attempting to convert sponsored links into revenue for environmental projects.
EcoSearch, GoodSearch and GoodTree all donate varying amounts of advertising-related income to environmental charities, while networked search engines such as Green Maven and EcoSeek provide users with the ability to only search environmental sites. Meanwhile, sites such as Treehoo and Ecocho offer users the chance to carbon-offset their searches.
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WHAT DO YOU THINK? Add your comment
Good luck to Ecosia - a fantastic project!!
Treehoo only donates 50% of its revenue to planting trees, which is great, but Ecosia is even better as it pledges to give 80% of their income to the WWF for a rainforest protection program in the Juruena national park. Nearly one million sqaure metres of rainforest has been saved already - wow!! It is also the only search engine that runs on eco-friendly servers using water energy. Well done Ecosia!
Posted by Sarah, 10 Dec 2009
No one greener than Treehoo!
I just wanted to comment that Treehoo.com plants trees for their profit, that's even better as it helps to secuester carbon that has been released into the atmosphere and it could in the long run help to stop global warming.
Posted by Nils, 03 Dec 2009
I'll keep on using Treehoo!
Treehoo.com has been planting trees to lower CO2 emissions for a very long time, I'll stick to them.
Posted by Sarah, 03 Dec 2009
Just a copy?
I believe that the site Treehoo.com was the first to plant trees for a part of their profit, Ive been using them for more than one year and also have my free e-mail account there. So what's new about this?
Posted by Sam, 03 Dec 2009