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www.Blackle.com

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 5:32 pm
by kappage
Mod Edit:

This was written halfway down this thread, but because of all the traffic this thread is still getting I've quoted it here at the top to show how much blackle doesn't work on TFTs
DMB2000uk wrote:I have a power thingy that can read the wattage of devices at the wall socket, so I thought I'd try out and see just how much power blackle would really save (I was skeptical as I didn't think it would make any difference on an LCD). I have a 19" Hanns G HW191D, and its native res is 1440x900. My findings surprised me.

White Google Consumed 20w
Blackle Consumed 22w
So as you can see for yourself, it doesn't work. So do the environment a favour and don't use it.

End Mod Edit
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has anyone seen this yet??

http://www.blackle.com

this is what they say on the "about" part of the site.

How is Blackle saving energy?

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 saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. "Image displayed is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color 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. 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".

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.


And ive been using blackle ever since.

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:45 pm
by vicaphit
Thats prett cool...I didnt know that a black background could make a difference...maybe LR should change to black too :)

Thanks for that link, I like the color black better than white anyway (easier on the eyes)

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:35 pm
by Pesto
yeah, a co-worker of mine totally started showing me some of these the other day!

heres a few of'em

http://black-google.blogspot.com/
http://www.googoth.com/
http://www.google.com/intl/xx-hacker/

and i know theres a google loco out there but i can't find it... its all crazy.. :rolleyes:

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 5:39 am
by DMB2000uk
New York Times calculated this and they didn't get energy savings nearly as much.

And realistically, how long do you spend sat at Google? People should make there desktop background black too.
Roberson et al, 2002
Was this research based on CRT's? People on slashdot seem to think so. TFT LCD's don't change the power they use as the backlight is still on even on black >_<
(I know, trusting slashdotters is not always a good idea >_< )


Dan

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 12:34 am
by stev
Most of my computers here have CRT's still. All of the screen savers default after 3 mins to black (the "none" setting).

And yes, with the DSL, my home page on each computer is GOOGLE. So, I can see a saving there indeed.

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 2:51 am
by kappage
yea, ive made a comment to my high school which mainly uses CRT's to make this the homepage and every computer at home is using it as their homepage aswell, but for screensavers i dont bother after 15 minutes of not being used my monitor jsut turns off.

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 12:15 pm
by DMB2000uk
kappage wrote:for screensavers i dont bother after 15 minutes of not being used my monitor jsut turns off.
Ditto that, screensavers are such a waste.

Dan

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:09 am
by boban23
I really believe that if we all search with black google and get black results we can save energy.

http://blackgooglesearch.blogspot.com/

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 9:19 pm
by X7JAY7X
I use http://www.keepglobe.com. It saves more energy than Blackle. They donate 50% of revenue to a green cause and it is hosted on a server that is powered by wind and sun energy. They also have a image search. Black search engines do not save energy as they claim and also my eyes twitch after seeing that black background.

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 9:49 pm
by skier
it looks just like google

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 1:03 am
by ibleet
I agree with Dan, as usual!

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:52 am
by martini161
i did some reasearch on this, and it turns out its a load of bull ****. it only saves energy on crts, and the amount it saves even there is negligible, because it takes more time to load and do other stuff on blackle (google has WAAAY better servers) cancells out the small amount you save looking at a black screen instead of a white one

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 12:28 pm
by w00fd06
martini161 wrote:i did some reasearch on this, and it turns out its a load of bull ****. it only saves energy on crts, and the amount it saves even there is negligible, because it takes more time to load and do other stuff on blackle (google has WAAAY better servers) cancells out the small amount you save looking at a black screen instead of a white one
So what now? just use a black background for igoogle, and use custom search engines with black backgrounds? hmm, i think ill try that.

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 6:57 am
by earth017
There are around 17 different versions of “black google” online. The best one I’ve found is http://www.cleanblack.com. Cleanblack is the only version that allows you to change the text colors of the google search results. Try it yourself by going to http://www.cleanblack.com/theme/

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 7:30 am
by DMB2000uk
Do you know what is really funny?

I have a power thingy that can read the wattage of devices at the wall socket, so I thought I'd try out and see just how much power blackle would really save (I was skeptical as I didn't think it would make any difference on an LCD). I have a 19" Hanns G HW191D, and its native res is 1440x900. My findings surprised me.

White Google Consumed 20w
Blackle Consumed 22w

Dan

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 7:31 am
by martini161
:owned:

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 1:41 pm
by stev
DMB2000uk wrote:Do you know what is really funny?

I have a power thingy that can read the wattage of devices at the wall socket, so I thought I'd try out and see just how much power blackle would really save (I was skeptical as I didn't think it would make any difference on an LCD). I have a 19" Hanns G HW191D, and its native res is 1440x900. My findings surprised me.

White Google Consumed 20w
Blackle Consumed 22w

Dan

So, the verdict is, look for the EngeryStar rating on the display and hardware. :-k

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 6:25 am
by martini161
ggl wrote:Blackle is okay. The big problem is indeed that their colour scheme needs to be improved. Too tiring for the eyes.

Try http://ggl.me and you will feel the difference.

Not only you will help the environment, but you will releave your eyestrain too.

And it is the shortest url I've encountered so far.
this still uses the same concept, it still wont save energy

Re: www.Blackle.com

Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 7:21 am
by DMB2000uk
I'm convinced that bots or people are just signing up to promote their own version of blackle with this thread now.

We've proven it doesn't save energy, so people should stop posting 'better' alternative black sites.

Thread Locked.

Dan