New tests reveal flaws in Blackle's claims
I'm not sure anyone took the claims made by Blackle seriously in the first place, but in case you're still clinging to the belief that a search engine with a black screen saved more energy than a white one, a set of new figures may shatter your illusions.
According to an article in Techlogg, New power tests on CRT and LCD monitors finds that power savings are not as high as the makers of Blackle suggested. To test out the claims fairly, Techlogg's army of geeks got their hands on as many monitors as possible and compared energy readings. Interestingly, they actually came out in Google's favour...
Their LCD monitor tests showed that Blackle actually causes a rise in monitor power consumption over the standard white Google search engine page. The results also match what is known about LCD design – that the display has to block the passage of light from the backlight getting through to the front of the screen and in order to do that, more power is required.
While I think what Blackle did was a good stunt, and an interesting attempt at eroding Google's monopoly on searching the web, I think it's also a bit of a sad example of just how many bogus claims are muddying the water and making it even harder for well meaning people to do their bit for the environment.
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Comments
Argh! Isn't this annoying? I switched to Blackle because I like black, but if it's worse than Google for energy consumption I shall switch back right now. False information be damned!
Posted by: Kate | August 2, 2007 12:25 PM
I too fell hook, line and sinker for "Blackle's" marketing technique. A refreshing change from the white screen displayed by other search engines; however, I am not impressed with the "claims" that a different coloured screen conserves energy.
Posted by: Jason Wilkinson | August 10, 2007 4:18 PM
Another one of those darker background site is Greygle. It uses a grey background with dark text. However, I don't think it takes itself as serious as the other ones. It has little sayings under its logo that seems to be updated on a random basis. Greygle has referred to itself as to not being the aliens you are looking for and having no relationship to Area 51 to being an Albino Black Sheep. It might not be the ultimate thing to save the world but perhaps it can put a smile on your face before you search for what will.
Posted by: Jason | September 1, 2007 11:45 PM
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