Google.com (excuse me for my reference to two other sites, but this is worth it), uses a lot of extra energy with it's white background. So switch to blackle.com. It has the same search engine because it is powered by google. It does not have images, maps, groups, ect. (yet)
This action is silly. It shows ignorance about how how these technologies work.
1) White vs black: The 2002 paper they refer to is true for old CRT monitors. On LCD monitors (which you should be using if you have any concerns about power usage), use pretty much the same power regardless of the colours they show. Basically the LCD backlight produces white light and little LCD "windows" allow the light through or not. Whether the light gets to the user or not the same power and heat are generated.
2) Services such as maps,groups,youtube etc only consume server power if you use them and using blackie is going to change nothing if you are not using Google's extra services.
3) Google's extra services are probably far more efficiently performed by Google than if other parties hosted them.
3) It is better to use a large server farm (eg. Googles) than lots of smaller ones. This is a lot more power efficient.
4) Google makes their own servers and has the buying power to get special chipsets from their suppliers (Intel etc). Google demand chips that can run hotter than regular chips. This means that Google's servers need less air conditioning to keep cool.
in January 2009
Pardon a second post here, but actions like this really annoy me. Like quite a few greenwashings, this project preys on gullible people and sells a "solution" for "problem" and probably make a boat load of money doing this.
First off, as I said above, Blackle has no significant effect on LCD monitors. If there is a measurable difference it is going to be slight.
What steams me is that Blackle is using obsolete data (quoting a 2002 report), and does not provide a balanced view of its pros and cons, thus creating a false "problem" and then providing a "solution" and making a lot of money in the process.
So, how are they exploiting ignorance and giilt to make money?
1) They make money on the Google ads. Sure, Google make money too, but not by exploiting the ignorant.
2) They claim to have saved over 1 million kWh of electricity (about 1000 times what the average American household uses in a month). By converting that into equivalent CO2 savings they can get carbon credits and sell these as carbon offsets through some offsetting scheme, making quite a bit of money in the process.
in January 2009
BUURRRRRN!!!
in January 2009
Glenn S. 16° pledged to do this 1610 days ago
