Blackle - Energy Effcient Google

Mellor

Sorry if this has already been posted, I tried to search but the boards engine isn't working.

Everyone knows Google, and its famous white screen. Most people are not aware that a white screen uses more energy, although it is quite obvious once you think a little about it. A white screen is much brighter, so more energy must be used.


Some time ago (Jan 07) an article was written that suggested that is google used a black screen it would save 750 Megawatt hours a year due to the popularity of the search engine.

As a result of this a new google has been produced. Blackle is a new search engine powered by google that operates with a black screen. It doesn't have all the features of a the full google page, but it in terms of searching for a website it is complete. It may take a bit of getting used to but I think that there is no reason to not use it. Google is homepage for alot of people, changing it to Blackle can do nothing but good.


There is one other reason to use blackle, as it uses less power, it would save battery time on laptops

Jumpy

I was under the impression that the backlight stays on on an lcd screen no matter the colour.

Mellor

The energy saving doesn't come from the backlight. its from the energy required to create the white screen. The screen is naturally black. And a black screen requires no energy to alter this.

bonkey

Mellor wrote:

The energy saving doesn't come from the backlight. its from the energy required to create the white screen. The screen is naturally black. And a black screen requires no energy to alter this.

No, the screen isn't naturally black....at least not on an LCD. With CRTs, yes.

The claims were tested by an interested third party, and found to be more than lacking. Indeed, on most LCDs the reviewer tested, displaying black required more power than displaying white.

Nukem

I tested this on two CRTs and a 3 LCD and the CRTs did drop in energy consumption but the LCDs actually teetered on nominal energy usage and in 1 case went up in energy requirement.

Valid for CRT only!

mike65

Its looks much cooler though!

Mike.

Capt'n Midnight

Nukem wrote:

Valid for CRT only!

This is the key point - valid for CRT only.

It's just a gimmick to con you into using a third party web site.
if you want to save power on a CRT use a different darker theme, look at the word option to use blue background.

CRT's use far more power than LCD's anyway.

LCD's use the same amount of power regardless of what is displayed on the screen, even on Laptops.

Having more white would mean you are less likely to use background light so a black screen would on average use more power for LCD users. In fact if you laptop had a light sensor a black display could trick it into using more power.

If you want to save power - turn stuff off, or use power saving.
better still go for passive heating in your house, that way the power you use isn't wasted as it saves on your fuel bill.

Jack Sheehan

Hmmm, i use this and was under the impression that it was saving energy, unfortunately i use an lcd.