Green search
Green search engines are similar to the usual search engines used online although they are specialised to return results for the websites of eco-friendly companies and those that deal with environmental issues. One well published green search engine is Ecocho, a company that donates a significant percentage of its profits to carbon offset programs which specialise in planting trees; this green search engine claims to be responsible for planting over six thousand trees. Another relatively well known green search engine is Ecosearch, who also donate a large part of their profits to environmentally friendly causes such as various green charities. Users of this green search engine are invited to request that other charities be added to their list of beneficiaries.
Most green search engines operate through the use of technology of other search engines, for example the aforementioned Ecosearch green search engine is powered by Google. These green search engines which are based on existing major search engines will basically just act as a filter for content for the results obtained from the larger engine, only displaying the sites relevant to green causes amongst the results. However, other green search engines exist which are better off being described as green search directories rather than green search engines, and are essentially a searchable database of sites related to green companies and environmental issues. Many people question the credentials of these green search engines though, particularly as their revenue, although much of it is donate to green causes, is generated by advertising and it not unusual to see green search engines displaying ads for cheap flights, which are far from environmental friendly.