Would Making Google Black Save Energy?
There’s been an interesting discussion on Digg about how the color of webpages affects the amount of power consumed, with the discussion centering on just how much power would be saved if Google switched to an all-black layout. The theory goes that black webpages use 59 watts of power, 15 watts less than a white webpage does, and calculating that with 200 million queries a day, you get 8.3 Megawatt-hours per day, or 3 gigawatts (Marty!) per year, all of which means Black Google saves $300,000 per year.
Of course, the theory doesn’t hold up under more advanced analysis. Turns out that this only really applies to CRT monitors, and with LCDs cheap and popular, and installed in all laptops (which make up over 50% of computers sold every year), the Black Google theory may only be true for a quarter, or less of all computer monitors in the United States. Or, as this guy says:
The US alone generates 4,100,000,000 Megawatt hours per year. 3,000 Megawatt hours amount to about 0.00007% of US energy consumption. Reduce that number by 75% (because it only applies to CRTs), and we’re talking about 0.00001% of the US energy generation for a year.
Still, it’s a pretty cool idea, at the very least it makes me think about how we can conserve energy by doing little things. I’m moving to a new place this week, and I’m going to make sure it’s easy for me to unplug my TV when I’m not watching it. And if you have a CRT and want to do a little to help (and drop your monthly bill, here’s a Black Google you can bookmark, and I’m sure there’s a Greasemonkey script that can make it even better.
Put devices which don’t need a constant supply of power onto switchable power strips which you can turn off easily (for example: I plug my laptop’s power cable into a power strip as well as chargers for various devices, and just turn off the power to cut the power to all of them when I leave for the day).
Comment by epc | January 22, 2007
Actually, I’m thinking of putting in one of those timers between the plug and the wall, so that the TV will be plugged back in before I wake up. This way (a) I won’t have to switch it on and off and (b) it will be on when I want to use the TV as an alarm to wake me up.
Comment by Nathan Weinberg | January 23, 2007
www.googleblack.tk Unfortunatly searchresults differ a bit …
Comment by BETA | March 3, 2007
See blacklys.com - The Black Google that i have ever seen
They have a firefox Search Extension too.. Interesting..
More over, You can rename the main display to anything you like. Cool huh?
Comment by 1David | July 6, 2007
I totally agree with you. I really believe that it is a great concept despite the arguments against it. Its an innovative idea on trying to help the environment. What would it hurt to use black backgrounds instead of white. I think there really are a lot of people who like this concept because there are more and more search sites using darker colors. My favorite is Greenback Search at http://www.greenbacksearch.com/. They use eco-friendly colors but more importantly they purchase carbon offsets on behalf of users for searches that earn revenue. I’m planning to use this site as my search engine since the results are powered by Google so it will probably be the same thing but more environment friendly. It also has some information on the environment that is useful. Check it out, I’m sure you’ll like it too.
Comment by Krista | August 16, 2007
Actually, the theory has been proven false. It only saves energy for a small percentage of users, and actually wasted most energy for the majority of people! I’ll have another article soon explaining more about it.
Comment by Nathan Weinberg | August 16, 2007
[…] Someone at Google must have been sick of seeing all the Diggers posting about “Black Google”, the idea that if Google switched its background color to black, it’d save 1.21 gigawatts of electricity (or something) per year. It’s one of those ideas that, even if correct, just sound silly, and every single bit of science on the topic says the theory is almost 100% incorrect. […]
Pingback by » Google Debunks The “Black Google” Meme » InsideGoogle » part of the Blog News Channel | August 16, 2007
That site claims that it really does save energy here: http://www.greenbacksearch.com/?L=110
“LCDs work in a very different way, employing a background light that remains on regardless of the color displayed. However, most manufacturers have built intelligence into their displays that dim the light when the monitor primarily displays dark colors, so you can still expect energy savings of up to 4 watts using an LCD monitor.”
The truth? I don’t know. But Google could still make black an option…
Comment by Tim | August 17, 2007
If you just want the websites you visit to have a black background, Firefox and IE have options to customize the palette. However, I think that using search revenues to buy carbon offsets is a way more impactful way to save the environment. So I really like the www.greenbacksearch.com service.
Comment by Phil | August 17, 2007
[…] Zitat von i0n0s Ihr kennt die Antwort von Google auf diesen Vorwurf? ne. kennst du sie? k.T. @Obi: Den genauen Link finde ich nicht mehr, aber dieser Link hier entspricht ungefähr dem was in meiner Quelle stand. […]
Pingback by Webdesign: Dunkle Websites sparen Strom - Forum der Meisterkuehler | August 21, 2007
WEB2.0 BLACK GOOGLE http://gBlack.02d.pl
Comment by BLACK GOOGLE | November 16, 2007