Update on Climate Change Search Statistics

It has been a while since our last update on Climate Change Search Statistics. Last time we also discussed if there was (a spurious?) correlationship betwwen searches for "Hybrid Car" and actual sales for Hybrid Cars. John Whitehead at Environmental Economics is wondering about correlationship between gasoline prices and traffic on blogs such as Oil Drum (which recently wondered about a correlationship between Consumer Confidence and Gas Prices)or for that matter American Automobile Fuel Consumption Debate. Today, again there is a discussion going on November Auto sales numbers, so I think that our search statistics update may provide another useful data point.

Here is how the climate change search statistics look as of October 2005. Click on Charts for larger images.

We have now been following this for two full years, although there are some gaps in the data. The first chart above excludes our favorites "Hybrid Car" and "Global Warming". The only interesting thing here is that "Solar Power" may be on the verge of breaking out of this group.
There is more interesting stuff going on the second chart.

Post KatRita, search results for "Global Warming" went back up to their pre-summer levels. "Hybrid Car" searches zoomed in August and September before settling down in October. I checked GCC for hybrid sales numbers for these months, and once again we see *some* positive relationship between searches and sales! We will be watching this space closely. So stay tuned.