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10 Ways Google Empowers Sustainable Choices in 2024

10 Ways Google Empowers Sustainable Choices in 2024

1. Get more sustainable choices when you travel

You can now find relevant train routes when you search for flights in Google Search making it easier to consider options like high-speed rail when you travel. When you choose to fly, you can also find a carbon emissions estimate for nearly every flight in Google Flights results — right next to the price and duration of the trip. This means that when you’re choosing among flights of similar cost or timing, you can also factor carbon emissions into your decision.

2. Take a more fuel-efficient route

People are looking for information about how to reduce their environmental footprint when in transit. That’s why we continue expanding fuel-efficient routes to new countries, like India and Indonesia. You can find these routes by looking for the little green leaf in Google Maps – it indicates the most fuel efficient route if it isn’t already the fastest.

3. Understand your car-buying choices

For people shopping for an electric vehicle, it’s now even easier to understand the costs associated with buying a new vehicle. In the U.S., when people search for terms like “best electric cars,” they can quickly compare prices, battery range, charging times, and power output of individual models. They can also find federal government incentives for qualifying vehicles in the U.S and parts of Europe.

4. Use our Fuel Cost Calculator to find the most affordable options

If you’re considering buying an EV or if you’ve had an EV for a while, it’s helpful to understand the cost of charging. That’s why we’re adding an updated Fuel Cost Calculator to electric and fuel-based car results to help drivers see the cost of charging compared with filling up at the pump. This is available now in 21 countries around the world.

5. Mitigate EV range anxiety with Battery Range Explorer

When you search for an EV, you’ll get a visualization of how far you can go on a single charge—specific to that model. You can enter your own destination and we’ll show how much battery you’d have upon arrival. And, for really long trips, we’ll show you how many charges are needed along the way. This prediction takes into account factors like elevation change and speed limits.

6. Find more detailed charging information

Finding EV charging stations has never been easier. If you search ‘EV charging’ in Google Maps, you’ll see nearby stations and information about when a charger was last used so you can get a sense of how reliable it is.

7. Locate speedy charging options

EV drivers on Android and iOS can also see even more helpful charging station information. Update your plug types in your electric vehicle settings in Maps to see whether a charger is compatible with your vehicle, real-time charging availability, and if the available chargers are fast, medium or slow.

8. Compare home heating and cooling systems

We’re making it easier for people looking to replace their home heating or cooling system. When you search for queries like “boilers” or “air conditioning” in Google Search, you’ll see information about potential options, including their capabilities, energy efficiency, and financial incentives, all in one place.

9. Find nearby recycling points

We provide a group of recycling attributes for Google Business Profiles on Search and Maps, allowing local storefronts and shops to show the recycling services they offer and helping people share this information with others in their community. Now you can search for nearby recycling drop-off locations — through searches like “plastic bottle recycling near me” — all over the world.

10. Buy used clothes and products

When you search for products on Google, like a winter coat, you’ll see a grid in the organic results with photos and listings from retailers across the web. If any of those products are pre-owned, you’ll see a “Pre-owned” label under that listing. There’s also a similar label for “Refurbished” electronics.

 


Source  Google Blog

Google launches new features to help users shrink their carbon footprints

Google launches new features to help users shrink their carbon footprints

Google announced a suite of new features that it says will help people who use their platforms make more sustainable choices. The new services focus on reducing planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions and are primarily found on Search, Maps, Travel, and Nest.

But before we get into the details of how their new tools work, a quick note of context; some environmental advocates have called out companies for shifting responsibility for the climate crisis onto individual consumers. Holding big corporate polluters accountable for their emissions far outweighs any one consumers’ individual impact. And Wednesday’s announcements from Google aren’t really designed to reduce the company’s own carbon footprint.

That being said, there’s no time to lose to the prevent the climate crisis from getting worse, and every bit of emissions-savings helps. For those who might want some new tools to rein in their own emissions, here’s a breakdown of what Google just announced.

 

HOLDING BIG CORPORATE POLLUTERS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR EMISSIONS FAR OUTWEIGHS ANY ONE CONSUMERS’ INDIVIDUAL IMPACT.

 

SEARCH

Sometime this month, Google plans to switch up the way results for “climate change” appear in its Search platform. Users will be led to a dedicated results page with “high quality climate-related information,” according to Google. It plans to source content from reputable authorities on the subject, including the United Nations.

The company also says it wants to make it easier for consumers to see more eco-friendly options when shopping on Google. By “early next year,” when users based in the US search for car models and manufacturers, Google will also show results for hybrid and electric vehicles. When searching for a particular electric vehicle, users will also find nearby charging stations that are compatible with the model.

Similarly, Google users in the US should begin to see suggestions Wednesday for more energy efficient home appliances when shopping online. That applies to searches for furnaces, dishwashers, water heaters, stoves, and dryers.

Google, however, did not announce any changes to searches on YouTube, which is a big platform for misinformation and lies about climate change. Of the top 100 videos that pop up when searching for “global warming,” 20 percent of views are for videos rife with misinformation, according to one recent analysis by nonprofit Avaaz. Google has also not met its own employees’ demands that it cancel contracts with fossil fuel companies or stop funding and lobbying for candidates that derail climate action.

 

MAPS

Starting Wednesday, people in the US can see which driving routes are the most fuel-efficient when using Google Maps. (The company originally announced in March that this feature was on the way.) Fuel efficiency cuts down on both gas costs and tailpipe pollution. When the most fuel-efficient route is also the fastest, Google Maps will default to that option. If the fuel-efficient route is slower, the app will show users their options so that they can make an educated decision on which to choose. Users in Europe will be able to do the same starting in 2022, according to Google.

That will, in theory, help individual Google Maps users reduce their CO2 emissions. A passenger vehicle typically releases just under five metric tons of CO2 a year. And a person in the US, which has one of the highest rates of per capita emissions in the world, might be responsible for about 18 metric tons a year. Google, on the other hand, unleashed 12,529,953 metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere in 2019. That’s roughly equivalent to more than 2.73 million passenger vehicles’ pollution in a year.

 

Google’s new Lite Navigation for cyclists. GIF: Google

 

TRAVEL

When searching for flights through Google, starting Wednesday, users will now be able to see the carbon dioxide emissions associated with each flight. They’ll even be able to see how their seat choice affects their individual carbon footprint. Taking a seat in business or first class increases the amount of pollution you’re responsible for, since they take up more space and therefore a larger share of the plane’s emissions. Choosing a more fuel efficient itinerary can actually cut CO2 pollution from a given route by as much as 63 percent, recent research found.

 

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Source The Verge