Despite Google’s corporate commitment to going green with their solar panels and carbon neutrality, it turns out their all-white search engine isn’t the most energy efficient. In response to this, Heap Media, an Australian global online services company, launched Blackle – the black Google – as a more energy-efficient version of the white-colored Google that we all know and love. Blackle comes in response to a blog post in January written by Mark Ontkush, a frequent contributor to Treehugger, entitled “Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year.” The estimate is based on the difference in average watts it takes to display a white web page versus a black web page, essentially 74 to 59, and weighs it against how many times people “Google” something in a day (roughly 200 million hits).
And how can you contribute to the new black Google revolution? By simply setting Blackle as your homepage of course, and using it as your primary search engine, and by spreading the word. Who knows, you might even find the black to be more soothing to your eyes, especially during those late night sessions when you are burning the midnight oil.
While the technicians over at Google haven’t necessarily taken notice, the people at Heap Media have created something that’s catching on- something that they hope will “remind us all of the need to take small steps in our everyday lives to save energy.”
Others have caught on and have started additional black online searches, including the one below. All claim to do the same thing, save energy. If every little bit helps, then why not make the leap to a different color, it’s only a search engine after all.
+ Blackle + Jabago + Link from EcoIron
