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'Green' Blackle is a red herring, say testers
As the global energy-saving drive gathers momentum, guilt-ridden consumers are constantly seeking ways to reduce their footprint
Marrying the carbon-conscious zeitgeist with internet search giant Google was a surefire attention-grabber - and the result is Blackle.
Whatle? Take a peek at www.blackle.com - if your poor monitor-ravaged eyes can bear it. It speaks for itself.
So it's Google with a black screen. Well, sort of. It is not owned by Google and lacks many Google features such as Images, Groups, News, Searches etc. Technically it is a Google Custom Search Partner - ie: the search results can be customised. Therefore the results will not necessarily be the same as Google's.
Why? The rationale is that an all-black screen uses less power than an all-white one. An article published in 2002 claimed every monitor tested consumed less energy with an all-black screen.
The Australian inventors of Blackle, Heap Media, were inspired to action by a January 2007 blog. It claimed a 15 Watt per monitor reduction could be achieved - or 750 Megawatt hours globally per annum - by using a Black Google.
And is it? Even the inventors concede there is scepticism about the amount saved, but state that 'Every bit counts'. This is, of course, true.
However, one technical website has run tests which suggest that on some monitors it actually consumes more energy than conventional Google.
Checking 27 different monitors, the website http://techlogg.com/content/view/360/31/ states that by using CRT (old-fashioned Cathode Ray Tube monitors) power savings can be achieved, but only one managed a 15-Watt reduction.
What's more... All LCD monitors tested with a 22" screen or smaller used more energy with Blackle.
On the other hand, almost all LCD monitors of 24” and above showed a small decrease. But with an average decrease for LCD of just 0.1 Watts, the difference was negligible.
