The more advanced and accessible artificial intelligence becomes, the more energy it needs to function. And AI is now being baked into everyday online experiences, including search engines. Green search engines hope to offset that impact.
Google’s 2024 environmental report said that its greenhouse gas emissions rose by 48% between 2019 and 2024, “primarily due to increases in data center energy consumption and supply chain emissions.”
In the 2025 report, Google said data center energy emissions were reduced by 12% since 2024.
“The rapid evolution of AI is fundamentally reshaping our business and the technology industry as a whole,” the report said. “This may drive non-linear growth in energy demand, which makes our future energy needs and emissions trajectories more difficult to predict.”
Both Microsoft and Google have taken climate pledges to strive for much fewer emissions by 2030, but the data centers needed to support their AI tools come with environmental repercussions.
And data centers are a major sticking point for many, with strong opposition to the resource-guzzling centers emerging online and among voters and lawmakers.
This has set the stage for a few environmentally conscious search engines to emerge. Green search engines still use energy to generate results, but to offset the impact, they donate to climate action for every search made.
Here’s a quick introduction to the two most popular green search engines, how they work and how to use them.
Can I remove AI from my Google searches?
According to a 2025 post on the Google Assistant support page, there is a way to mute AI search results. But several users commented beneath the post reporting it didn’t work for them.
A “Platinum Product Expert” commented on a user’s query that asked for directions on how to switch off the AI overview feature.
Here’s what the post said to do:
According to user responses to the post, this doesn’t fully disable AI functions in Google Search.
“Not everyone has the Labs feature activated for their account,” one user said. “You can only ‘turn it off’ in the Labs feature. Turning it off just means you see less of it; it doesn’t actually turn it off.”
What are green search engines? How do green search engines work?
“Green” search engines are eco-conscious alternatives to search engines like Google and Microsoft’s Bing, although they typically still rely on larger search engines to populate results.
According to the Climate Action Accelerator nonprofit organization, “Not all browsers and search engines have the same ecological footprint.”
“To assess this impact, it is necessary to look at their energy performance (efficiency, energy consumption, amount of data used), the type of energy used to run them (carbon intensity, renewable energy or not), as well as the way in which the revenues generated are used.”
There are three categories search engines can fall into:
So how is a search engine “green” if it’s reliant on a larger search engine that relies on massive data centers? The two most well-reviewed and popular search engines, Ecosia and Lilo, offset the impact by redistributing their revenue to environmental nonprofits and organizations.
A bonus for those who don’t like seeing an AI overview listed above primary sources: Ecosia search results don’t show an AI overview, and Lilo allows users to deactivate its AI overview through a pop-up menu on the home page.
Is Ecosia powered by Google? How does Ecosia search engine work?
As mentioned above, Ecosia is technically a metasearch engine. It is based in Berlin, Germany.
Ecosia does use Google search results, but Google isn’t the only search engine it partners with. Where your specific results come from in your Ecosia searches depends on where you are in the world, the type of device you’re searching on, and the privacy permissions you’ve granted it.
“Search results and related ads on Ecosia come from our partners Microsoft Bing, Google and EUSP (European Search Perspective),” Ecosia said.
“In some countries or for some queries, your results may be powered mainly by Bing. In others, they may come from Google or EUSP. Over time, this mix can change as we improve our search stack and reduce dependency on a single provider.”
You can see which search provider powered the results to each search you make directly on the results page. Ecosia also has ads and sponsored results, but the profit made from the platform’s ads is donated to environmental organizations.
On the Ecosia homepage, there’s a tally of how many trees have been planted as a result of Ecosia searches. If you make an account, you can also see a personal count of how many trees have been planted as a result of just your searches.
Ecosia also releases its monthly finances as a gesture of transparency with its users, showing exactly how much revenue is coming in and how it was spent.
“Ecosia has been a pioneering force in regenerative tech from day one, even building our own solar plants to produce twice the energy needed to power your searches,” Ecosia’s website says.
“We don’t track you. We care about trees, not your data. And we’re fully transparent, sharing monthly financial reports and daily updates from the field so you can see exactly where your impact goes.”
What is Lilo search engine?
Similar to Ecosia, Lilo is a metasearch engine that redistributes more than half of its advertising profits to fund environmental projects. Lilo is based in Paris, France.
The first time you use Lilo, you might see some search results in French. To switch the results to American English, go to the top right corner of the screen and click the hamburger menu. Toggle the “interface language” category to English and toggle the “country” category to United States.
In the top right corner of the Lilo homepage, next to the hamburger menu where you can change your preferred language and turn off AI search results, there is a water drop icon. Those water drops are collected with each search you make on Lilo and then translated to profits that can be donated to a nonprofit of your choice.
“You decide how we distribute the funds we collect by giving the water drops you earn with each of your internet searches to the organizations of your choice, allowing you to support them for free,” Lilo’s FAQ page said.
“Historically, Lilo allocated 50% of its revenue to supporting nonprofits. This proportion has evolved (80% of our profits since April 1, 2023) to better reflect changes in the market.”
Since Lilo is based in France, it also offers more data protection than American search engines.
“We are a French company and we are proud to pay our taxes in France (no we are not targeting anyone in particular),” Lilo’s website said.
“Our servers are also hosted in France. This is important because France and the European Union apply the strictest legislation in terms of personal data protection.”
Lianna Norman is a trending reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, covering pop culture, lotteries, rocket launches, Florida wildlife, breaking news and more. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://floridatoday.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Tired of Google AI? Green search engines to try instead, how they work
Reporting by Lianna Norman, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Florida Today
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By Lianna Norman, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida | USA TODAY Network
