I think it's a little bit ironic that the google search engine has a picture of a little nature-esque google logo, instead of doing what Blackle did.
Blackle.com is the energy efficient version of the Google search engine. Blackle is powered by Google Custom Search. It saves engery because of the screen being black.
"Image displayed is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen." Roberson et al, 2002
In January 2007 a blog post titled Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year proposed the theory that a black version of the Google search engine would save a fair bit of energy due to the popularity of the search engine. Since then there has been skepticism about the significance of the energy savings that can be achieved and the cost in terms of readability of black web pages.
Do your part internet geeks!
www.blackle.com
7 comments:
dude, amaaazing call.
woord.
the fact that you're using a computer completely outweighs any type of "good" you're doing with blackle. 1000x more energy is being wasted by the thousands of servers this site uses.
stick in the mud.
to anonymous:
valid point, but thats like saying don't use fluorescent light bulbs because you negate the energy you save by driving a car. it's true but you don't use the light bulbs to improve energy usage on your car. you use them to improve energy in your lighting.
so yes, the energy saved by using blackle may be cancelled out by the energy used to browse other websites or to use a computer in general, but that's not its purpose. its purpose is very specific: to be a more energy efficient alternative to Google. you replace Google with Blackle and that's one part of your life that's more energy efficient.
It's not world-changing, but it's the little things that count.
dear no name,
the bestie pwned you.
kthnxbye
i'm not a no name i'm daniel. a light bulb has nothing to do with a car. a CFL has a significant, measurable difference compared to an ordinary bulb. a search engine is a function of a computer. the amount of energy you save by using a black background is absolutely nothing in comparison to the energy you're using being on a computer. i'm all for taking small steps, but this is ridiculous. it's not worth anyone's time.
I like the idea that if everyone wants a black screen let's all just turn our computers off. Black efficient screens for everyone! The fact is that your computer is still drawing power and changing the color of your screen has little to do with it's efficiency or conservation of power. We should be concerned with real energy savers... not ones that are so short sighted.
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