Ecosia Search Engine....Does it do what it says on the tin?

Jez · #1 (**permalink**) 04-01-2010, 04:04 PM

This search engine says it goes to helping protect the rain forest! I told my brother about it, and he doesn't think something like this can actually do any help, he's dismissed it before even having a look, what do members think?

how it works - Ecosia

Hobjob · #2 (**permalink**) 10-01-2010, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jez

This search engine says it goes to helping protect the rain forest! I told my brother about it, and he doesn't think something like this can actually do any help, he's dismissed it before even having a look, what do members think?

how it works - Ecosia

If you go to that link there is a Tab "Install"
Under that it says
"Installation Instructions for Opera"

Now I love Opera, it is my default browser, but I have extra software being put on my computer when I don't know what it will do.

No thanks

eeyore · #3 (**permalink**) 10-01-2010, 06:16 PM

i'm with hobjob on this - why do you need to install a .exe for a search engine , no other search engine i know of needs that

looks like a con to me - i think your brother was right

also even if they are on the up and up consider the following from their FAQ page

Quote:

We earn money from clicks on the sponsored links, which are displayed next to the generic search results. Each click on one of these sponsored links generates a few cents of revenue for us. About two percent of the search requests end up with a click on a sponsored link.

The exact amount we earn depends a lot on the country. Searches from the United States generated a lot more revenue than searches in markets with less developed online advertising markets like India or Brazil. On international average we currently earn 0.13 Euro Cent per search.

We donate at least 80 percent of this money to rainforest protection project run by the WWF. The project is located in the Juruena national park. It costs only 5 Euro to protect an entire hectare of rainforest there. So based on our average earnings per search, we can save about two square meters for each search you do

from these figures it seems that their claim that each user saves 2,000 sq metres per year is somewhat suspicious - if they only earn less than a penny per search and donate 80 percent of that to the WWF - by their figures it would take arround 600 clicks on sponsored links or 30,000 searches to save one hectare

one hectare = 10,000 sq metres so they are saying that each user will do a fith of that ie 6,000 searches resulting in 120 clicks on sponsored links

also note that it takes (by their figures) only 5 euros to save one hectare - therefore eacjh user is donating one euro (slighly over one pound sterling) per year, big deal.

My advice would be to give this thing a swerve , carry on using google, and just donate a fiver (or whatever you can afford) to the WWF rainforest appeal directly

edit: linky to rainforest appeal here
http://support.wwf.org.uk/?page=shop...6&pc=DGF001005

Jez · #4 (**permalink**) 11-01-2010, 01:26 PM

Thanks for your thoughts muchly appreciated, but I have decided to go ahead and install, I thought he who dares lol! Even if the sums don't add up....every little bit helps for the future I hope & + I have bookmarked the link given, so thanks for that Pete!!

+ I still have google if Ecosia can't find what the results I'm after. As of now I have saved just over 4 square metres according to Ecosia & all users have saved 10,284,943. Just wish I could see some hard evidence to prove it!!!

eeyore · #5 (**permalink**) 11-01-2010, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jez

+ I still have google if Ecosia can't find what the results I'm after. As of now I have saved just over 4 square metres according to Ecosia & all users have saved 10,284,943. Just wish I could see some hard evidence to prove it!!!

and that is the crux of the matter - its strange that the ecosia website isnt mentioned on the WWF site and stranger still that the location of the WWF project given on their own website differs from the one ecosia provide.

I know a guy who is a senior campaign manager at wwf (we were at college together) so i might drop him an email and see if he can shed any light on whether the ecosia site is actually donating money to the campaign and also whether the figures like 5 euros to save a hectare stack up as that seems very low to me - given the ammount of money that can be made by clearing the rainforest and growing biofuel

Jez · #6 (**permalink**) 12-01-2010, 07:36 PM

If you could drop him a line Pete i'd be most grateful for his input as to what the crack is!

Cheers

BillyPilgrim · #7 (**permalink**) 13-01-2010, 09:44 PM

There's an article on The Guardian website about Ecosia with a quote from the WWF...

'A spokesman for WWF said that 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.'

Ecosia debuts 'world's greenest search engine' | Environment | guardian.co.uk

eeyore · #8 (**permalink**) 14-01-2010, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyPilgrim

There's an article on The Guardian website about Ecosia with a quote from the WWF...

'A spokesman for WWF said that 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.'

Ecosia debuts 'world's greenest search engine' | Environment | guardian.co.uk

the statement is somewhat disingenous though given that according to the T&C page the search will only "protect a peice of rainforest" if you then click on a sponsored link - and then only a fraction of a euro cents worth

ive emailed my mate and will let folks know what he comes back with

dskyrme · #9 (**permalink**) 08-02-2010, 04:05 PM

Having tested its' effectiveness as a search engine, we are thinking about setting ecosia as the default on our office pcs. So we would really appreciate independent confirmation that it does do what it says on the tin! Our one concern was the amount of rain forest we appear to be saving keeps increasing whether we click on a sponsored link or not...?! Thanks

Jez · #10 (**permalink**) 08-02-2010, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dskyrme

Having tested its' effectiveness as a search engine, we are thinking about setting ecosia as the default on our office pcs. So we would really appreciate independent confirmation that it does do what it says on the tin! Our one concern was the amount of rain forest we appear to be saving keeps increasing whether we click on a sponsored link or not...?! Thanks

Hi dskyrme & welcome to the forum.

I can only say from using Ecosia as my default search for a short amount of time that my saving only increases after i do a search though the overall search numbers increase all the while, so all's good so far with me. If your having technical troubles you can email webmaster@ecosia.org I'd imagine someone their end to be able to rectify the problem!???

Jez