“Blackle” - the search engine choice that saves the planet one search at a time.
If you haven’t seen it yet - its black and it’s supposed to be good for you. Blackle is a Heap Media creation powered by Google Custom search. It claims that because the screen is mostly black it’s doing the environment a favour and saving energy in the long run.
According to Blackle screen type does matter – the old style CCFL backlit LCD’s are constantly backlit but the newer monitors like LED backlit LCD screens, Plasmas and OLED’s don’t have the constant back lighting so Blackle becomes more effective with these types of monitors.
However, Google claims that when they turned the “lights out” for Earth Hour in 2008 - it saved no energy, it was merely a gesture to bring about awareness of the cause. Google advised that modern screens use the same amount of power no matter what they are displaying, thus being the reason they don’t permanently keep their Google search engine black.
A test done for Techlogg.com on different screen types advised that CRT screens do save a very small amount of power using Blackle. They suggest that those with LCD screens 22” or smaller should stick with Google, if you have a 24” LCD or larger you will also find a miniscule saving of energy with Blackle, though it’s not always guaranteed.
So “to Blackle or not to Blackle” seems to be a personal choice and if the saying ‘every microscopic bit counts’ has anything to do with it then it could be worth using Blackle and doing your tiny bit to help. As a reminder to save energy Blackle is a pretty good advocate though - here are
some simple energy saving tips for your office:
• Set ‘sleep’ features on your computer and any electrical appliances that power down after they’ve been idle for a while. Even better turn them off at the wall when not in use, even machines on standby use up to 30 watts of power.
• If computers must be left on, turn off the screen (they consume more than half of the total energy used to run your PC). OR turn down your screen’s brightness.
• Think about buying a laptop for your next computer upgrade; they use 70-90% less energy than desktop computers.
• If you can, use ink-jet printers - they consume 90% less energy than laser printers and only print what you need, re-using paper if possible for scrap or drafts
• Buy energy conscious equipment (Energy Star rated etc).
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