For those of you who use Google (and who doesn’t?) to find your favorite stationers, florists, and of course, photographers, I found an interesting search engine that states it actually helps to save some energy. The search engine is called, Blackle, and was started by a company called Heap Media located in Sydney, Australia. It uses the Google custom search engine and the search pages it renders are all black background with lighter text. It’s true that this may take some time to get used to, but I admit that after a short time the pages become easier to read (and I figure you can use this search engine when searching in dim lighting to prevent you from getting screen-blinded.)
OK, so one person using it probably doesn’t save all that much energy, but if we all used it, I’m sure the grand total would add up to something. The premise is that a computer screen will use less energy to represent a black background versus the standard white background, and as we all know, Google uses a white background for the search page and for the end results. So, the next time you need to do a search why not try out Blackle and see if you can save a few milliwatts. To be more green, we all need to start with some small steps.
Update: Well it appears that I may have been too excited about this small step for tech green-ness. From what I have read, using a black-colored google doesn’t really do much unless you are using a CRT type screen (and even then, it is a small improvement.) On top of that, on an LCD screen (which is all I use) it might actually use MORE energy than just using a white colored google. Oh well. Anyway, I’ll still keep my eye out for little things that we can do to be a bit more green.
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