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article imageBlack Google Would Save 3,000 Megawatts a Year

Posted Jan 21, 2007 by  malan in Technology | 17 comments | 4121 views
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All white web page use about 74 watts to display, while an all black page uses only 59 watts. See what happens when you do the math on Google's home page
Ever noticed how pulling up www.google.com will make a dark room light up at night?

An all white web page uses about 74 watts to display, while an all black page uses only 59 watts. A blogger has recently done the math to see what kind of energy could be saved if Google changed it's website from white to a black format.

Google, gets about 200 million queries a day. Let's assume each query is displayed for about 10 seconds; that means Google is running for about 550,000 hours every day on some desktop. Assuming that users run Google in full screen mode, the shift to a black background will save a total of 15 (74-59) watts. That turns into a global savings of 8.3 Megawatt-hours per day, or about 3000 Megawatt-hours a year. And at 10 cents a kilowatt-hour, that's $300,000, a goodly amount of energy and dollars for changing a few color codes.

I wonder what the chances are of Google ever offering a secondary version of their site that offers a black shell, wouldn't it be as easy as setting up an alternative style sheet for the layout, text and ads? I for one would definitely use it. www.google.com has burned my eyes more than a few times.
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  • avatar Posted Jan 21, 2007 by  guj_*
    #1
    Google should try this out for a day.
  • avatar Posted Jan 21, 2007 by  Carolyn E. Price (gohomelaker)
    #2
    You're right gui_* they should try it. Those savings numbers are astonishing. I have never really thought about it before. Wow, great post.
  • avatar Posted Jan 21, 2007 by  guj_*
    #3
    @ Carolyn E. Price (gohomelaker):
    You're right gui_* they should try it. Those savings numbers are astonishing. I have never really thought about it before. Wow, great post.

    it's guj_* not gui_* :) ,lol
  • avatar Posted Jan 21, 2007 by  malan
    #4
    i thought it was gui - that'd be much cooler.. lol
  • BluPanda Posted Jan 22, 2007 by  BluPanda
    #5
    You know I would not be surprised if Google tried it out, or if they at least make it an option in the future. If the popularity of the idea spreads through the proper channels, Google is pretty good at listening.
  • avatar Posted Jan 22, 2007 by  digitalsoul
    #6
    You can already do this easily if you have Firefox and GreaseMonkey. Here is Google Dark but I like Google Redux myself.
  • avatar Posted Jan 22, 2007 by  Khee Mao
    #7
    who actually goes to google.com to search instead of using the much more convenient google toolbar?
  • avatar Posted Jan 22, 2007 by  malan
    #8
    About 200 million people a day... ;)
  • avatar Posted Jan 22, 2007 by  malan
    #9
    wow! great find DigitalSoul... it's funny - apparently no matter what you think of, someone is already doing it. very nice find.
  • avatar Posted Jan 22, 2007 by  digitalsoul
    #10
    I have the Google toolbar on Firefox and I still tend to goto google.com sometimes. Its a habit.
  • avatar Posted Jan 23, 2007 by  malan
    #11
    I'm using this now - Google Dark. I love it.
  • avatar Posted Jan 23, 2007 by  digitalsoul
    #12
    I'm glad I could find something you enjoy Malan.
  • avatar Posted Jan 23, 2007 by  malan
    #13
    yeah the design is just hot - damn it's so much nicer than Google's although I doubt Google will update theirs any time soon.
  • avatar Posted Jan 24, 2007 by  RobotGod
    #14
    I want dark google. Great find.
  • nadia Posted Oct 21, 2007 by  nadia
    #15
    the best black google is http://gBlack.02d.pl just CHECK THIS OUT and use ;)
  • BeNice Posted Dec 2, 2007 by  BeNice
    #16
    I think it's wrong of Blackle to exploit FALSE energy savings to attract people to their site (black screens only save energy on CRT monitors; 75% of monotors are LCD). What's worse, is that they copied the idea for a black google page from http://www.jabago.com. Jabago's black google page was the original and it states right on the home page that it's intended to be easier on the eyes and saves energy with CRT MONITORS ONLY. I've been using Jabago's black google for over a year now and I've found it's a lot easier on my eyes than the regular google page. My eyes get tired and start stinging after about 7 hours of staring at a computer screen (which I do 6+ days a week). At the end of the day, visiting an white background page is much harsher on my eyes! I tried blackle, and I found thier color scheme was better than a white background, but still a it was more difficult to read that Jabago's. If anyone is reading this post still, let's get a discussion going. Try the http://www.jabago.com black google page for a day, then, at the end of the day, try switching to regular google. Please post below whether you found the white screen to be harsh on your eyes. Thanks to Digital Journal and Ecoiron for this article and to anyone else who participates.
  • avatar Posted Sep 2, 2008 by  Paul Wallis (Wanderlaugh)
    #17
    Yeah, the white screen effect is a problem for a lot of people with eye conditions. I use a green pastel screen to write, because of the reduction in reflected light, and because that color is a naturally neutral part of the spectrum.

    Anyone experiencing any eye problems, suspect your color scheme, and see if you can find something on the display which is obviously less of an irritant. It'd be good if browsers could be configured to achieve these neutral tones.

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