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Green gadgets

Blackle - Controversial energy-saving version of Google

Blacklesdgs.jpg

Blackle is the new controversial (click “continue reading” to find out why) energy-saving version of the Google search engine. The only difference is that it’s background is black rather than bright Google white.

An all white webpage, such as Google, uses about 74 watts to display on a CRT screen (non flat/lcd), while an all black page uses only 59 watts. So, tech-blogger Mark Ontkush on EcoIron did a little maths:

Related stories: Google’s spec standards to save lots of power | Making your office greener

He worked out that Google, who gets about 200 million queries a day. Assuming each query is displayed for 10 seconds, that means Google is running for about 550,000 hours every day on some desktop. If using a black background will save a total of 15 (74-59) watts, then that’s a global savings of 8.3 Megawatt-hours per day, or about 3000 Megawatt-hours a year. Now take into account that about 25 percent of the monitors in the world are CRTs, and at 10 cents a kilowatt-hour, that's $75,000, a goodly amount of energy and dollars for changing a few color codes.

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. One thing I found is that it’s really annoying to copy and past from them, either turning up blank, since the writing is white, or you get an annoying black box around it. Plus, as Mark writes, only 75% of screens are now LCD which don’t take up more energy when displaying black.

Nevertheless, Blackle believe that there is value in the concept because even if the energy savings are small, they all add up, and every time we load our web browser black it reminds us that we need to keep taking small steps to save energy.

Posted by on July 13, 2007

Comments

This is great. Have a look at www.blackgoogle.co.uk that also does the same thing.

Posted by: Ian Webster | July 27, 2007 6:04 PM

Blackle is the first page of www.searchincolor.com, a site which has offered web search in color since much longer. I also like the simple white background and black links combination-don't knonw if it is energy saving, but seems to be better for my eyes....

Liz

Posted by: Liz | July 27, 2007 8:08 PM

Darkoogle.com also does the same hoping to save more energy using black background. Their green text on black are much more readable.

Posted by: Tony | August 2, 2007 5:01 PM

Black backgrounds with light text might save the most energy, but I find them difficult to read. They seem to cause me eye strain. I prefer a dark text on a light background. Greygle seems to work better for me, because it uses a grey background and black text.

Posted by: Jason | August 8, 2007 8:21 PM

This is a severely misleading idea, considering that a significant portion of computer users nowadays use LCD monitors. The technology behind the vast majority of LCD monitors utilize a CONSTANTLY ON flourescent backlight, that create black by energizing a liquid crystal array to obscure the backlight. See here for more information.

So for those of you using LCD screens, this actually consumes more energy, and a better way to save during usage is to just lower your screen brightness. For the rest of you, if you're really concerned, go buy an LCD screen, since they inherently consume significantly less power than CRTs.

And quit spreading Blackle's misleading FUD!

Posted by: Marco | August 8, 2007 10:43 PM

how about normal google just makes thier screen black.

Posted by: Anonymous | August 10, 2007 2:39 PM

how about normal google just makes thier screen black...

Posted by: sarah | August 10, 2007 2:40 PM

The energy savings claims of Blackle are admirable but seem to fall a little short when you look at the facts.

I propose a different approach to reduce display power consumption, spend less time using the monitor by using a more efficient Google search. How?

I have created several Google Custom Search Engines using Google Topic driven search technology and a search engine linking method to combine my multiple search engines.

I have created a more efficient mechanism for searching using Google topics and categories in my Google Custom Search Engines to group search results.

Entering an initial search string in the search box and hitting the search button displays a list of topics below the search box. When you select a topic my search combines the previous search string with the search string I have placed inside the topic.

It works quite well and reduces the time you spend running searches.

I have three main custom search engines that I have created. The Plasma TV Custom Search makes extensive use of topics.

Plasma TV Custom Search
Music Custom Search
Google Search

Take a look and let me know what you think.

Ray Szasz
www.webperc.com

Posted by: Webperc | August 17, 2007 4:33 AM

I think that despite criticisms, this is still a very solid idea. Even if it doesn't seem to apply to LCD monitors, there are still people who use CRT ones and if they make the switch a lot of energy will still be saved. I personally am using an eco-friendly site search called Greenback Search (http://www.greenbacksearch.com/). Their search is powered by Google so you will get the same results. They use eco-friendly colors but what I like particularly is that they purchase carbon offsets for users whose searches earn revenue. Check it out, they also have some information on the environment.

Posted by: Krista | August 17, 2007 8:18 AM

This is in response to the recent posts on blackle which got under my skin a) because it isn't really agreed on that it works and b) he's actually making money from it, but it goes into his own pockets!!!

Since it is is common knowledge that black pages in general don't do anything productive, I would suggest regrowgle.com as an alternative.

I know it's not the answer to everything, but unlike blackle etc who are making money from uneducated searchers, regrowgle.com re-invests any profit back into environmental schemes in a bid to try and offset a small part of your web use.

Posted by: Jason | September 3, 2007 5:49 AM

Recently i also noticed a Blackle Games website http://www.blacklegames.com/
I think it uses the same principle.

Posted by: Roj | January 19, 2008 5:08 PM

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