porcy62 Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 (edited) http://www.blackle.com/ 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 searches are powered by Google Custom Search. 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". Have a look at our energy saving tips page for ideas on steps you can take to save energy. 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. http://www.blackle.com/about/ Brilliant! Edited December 12, 2007 by porcy62 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 Good idea. I've got a laptop, not a standard monitor. My guess is that on those kind of screens, it doesn't matter what is on the screen, from an energy point of view. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted December 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 Good idea. I've got a laptop, not a standard monitor. My guess is that on those kind of screens, it doesn't matter what is on the screen, from an energy point of view. MG I have a laptop too, and actually you may be right, JLarsen should know it, I guess, but overall I think that's a brilliant approach to enviromental issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockefeller center Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 http://techlogg.com/content/view/360/1/ http://techlogg.com/content/view/367/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted December 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 http://techlogg.com/content/view/360/1/ http://techlogg.com/content/view/367/ Yep, thanks! Think I have to add an ? at the thread title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 Thanks. I always turn the whole system off at the wall at night, and whenever I go out. Not sure how to adjust the brightness. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted December 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 From the link RC provides, it appears that plugging off all the electronic/electric devices is the only effective way to cut off energy wasting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 I have my computer set so all backgrounds are black, even internet site. The Organissimo is very cool looking in black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Larsen Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 Good idea. I've got a laptop, not a standard monitor. My guess is that on those kind of screens, it doesn't matter what is on the screen, from an energy point of view. MG I have a laptop too, and actually you may be right, JLarsen should know it, I guess, but overall I think that's a brilliant approach to enviromental issues. Once upon a time I worked in magnetic memory systems (for about 1.5 years); I only know other aspects of hardware technology from overhearing things at the water cooler. That being said, my non-authoritative understanding is that the fluorescent tubes on an lcd monitor are always on at the same voltage regardless of what is being displayed on the screens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 Yep! Turn off at wall at night and whenever not in use. NB don't do this to the radio alarm clock MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted December 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 Good idea. I've got a laptop, not a standard monitor. My guess is that on those kind of screens, it doesn't matter what is on the screen, from an energy point of view. MG I have a laptop too, and actually you may be right, JLarsen should know it, I guess, but overall I think that's a brilliant approach to enviromental issues. Once upon a time I worked in magnetic memory systems (for about 1.5 years); I only know other aspects of hardware technology from overhearing things at the water cooler. That being said, my non-authoritative understanding is that the fluorescent tubes on an lcd monitor are always on at the same voltage regardless of what is being displayed on the screens. Thanks, I always appreciate your "non-authoritative understanding". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted December 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 (edited) Yep! Turn off at wall at night and whenever not in use. NB don't do this to the radio alarm clock MG Actually I do it for most of the stuff, but I've got still some unpluggable devices: cordless phones and the modem that makes working my telephonic line as well. And some stuff are plugged in sockets hardly reachable, behind furnitures, ecc. An hassle that producers may have spare to us if they'd conceive better their products. Edited December 12, 2007 by porcy62 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 Everyone should be plugging their computers, modems, etc into surge protectors. Surge protectors have a handy on/off switch that enables you to completely cut off the power supply to all devices plugged into them with one click. Just make sure the surge protector is somewhere you can reach it and problem solved. Also, something else to keep in mind. CRT monitors (cathode ray tube) use less energy than LCD (liquid crystal display) monitors. So that old bulky desktop monitor that you threw away was actually saving you money. In addition... This also applies to modern TV Sets. A CRT based HDTV uses less power than an LCD HDTV....Plasma HDTV's use even more energy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockefeller center Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 (edited) Also, something else to keep in mind. CRT monitors (cathode ray tube) use less energy than LCD (liquid crystal display) monitors. So that old bulky desktop monitor that you threw away was actually saving you money. According to http://techlogg.com/content/view/360/1/ the opposite is true. But maybe I'm too drunk to interpret the numbers in that table properly (edit: or those numbers are wrong). Cheers. Edited December 12, 2007 by rockefeller center Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 the fluorescent tubes on an lcd monitor are always on at the same voltage regardless of what is being displayed on the screens. That's what I thought. But Blackle looks cool - just a web site - but it looks cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie87 Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 It's pretty limited though - it can't do the other things that google.com does - like image searches, maps, etc. Whether it makes an energy difference or not, if it's not useful, I'm not going to be using it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted December 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 Everyone should be plugging their computers, modems, etc into surge protectors. Surge protectors have a handy on/off switch that enables you to completely cut off the power supply to all devices plugged into them with one click. Just make sure the surge protector is somewhere you can reach it and problem solved. Easy to say that to do in a normal house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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