Blackle was created by Heap Media to remind us all of the need to take small steps in our everyday lives to save energy. Blackle searches are powered by Google Custom Search.
Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black.
“Image displayed is primarily a function of the user’s colour settings and desktop graphics, as well as the colour 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.
We believe that there is value in the concept because even if the energy savings are small, they all add up. Secondly we feel that seeing Blackle every time we load our web browser reminds us that we need to keep taking small steps to save energy.
How can you help?
We encourage you to set Blackle as your home page ( set ). This way every time you load your Internet browser you will save a little bit of energy. Remember every bit counts! You will also be reminded about the need to save energy each time you see the Blackle page load.
Help us spread the word about Blackle by telling your friends and family to set it as their home page. If you have a blog then give us a mention. Or put the following text in your email signature: “Blackle.com – Saving energy one search at a time”.
Have a look at our energy saving tips page for ideas on steps you can take to save energy.
There are a lot of great web sites about saving energy and being more environmentally friendly. They are full of great tips covering the little things that we can all do to make a difference today. Try Blackling “energy saving tips” or visit treehugger.com a great blog dedicated to environmental awareness.
From the world of the Internet ~ http://www.blackle.com/about/
4 Comments
Bobby · March 11, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I prefer using Darkoogle http://www.darkoogle.com powered by Google and is available in over 40 countries http://www.darkoogle.com/international
Best of all its got the ‘similar page’ option in the result page like the normal white Google. I use that a lot.
Heena Modi · March 24, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Hey thanks for that Bobs!
I didn’t know about Darkoogle so I will check it out! 🙂
Parhus Shah · April 7, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Just had a look at Darkoogle and the following info has been highlighted on the site so not sure if this is correct.
Darkoogle is no longer available because black background Google does not reduce energy consumption
and it will increase energy consumption on LCD monitors.
If you want to save the planet, don’t use black background Google
Heena Modi · April 9, 2008 at 10:38 am
Thanks Parhus. I just checked it out and you’re right. It says that using Darkoogle does NOT reduce energy. It also increases energy consumption if you’re using a LCD monitor.
However, try this one – http://www.googledark.info
Heena 🙂
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