Google turns off the lights for Earth Hour today

by Brad Linder Mar 29th 2008

Google users in the US, UK, Canada, and a handful of other countries will notice that the page has gone black today. Do not adjust your monitors, this is intentional. Google is trying to draw attention to Earth Hour, an initiative to convince people to use less energy.

Now here's the thing, last year there a minor controversy over whether Google should permanently change its background to black in order to save energy. The theory is that it takes less energy to display a black background than a white one. But while that might have been somewhat true a few years ago when most computer users had cathode ray tube monitors, it actually takes more energy to display a black background on some modern LCD displays. So umm, essentially Google's black web page today could be contributing to an increase in energy use.

Hopefully if the move prompts a few folks to think about energy conservation, there'll be a net gain. But umm, seriously, Google, why go out of your way to debunk the myth of a energy-saving black Google last year just to promote it yourself today?

Tags: blackle, conservation, energy, google

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

archpope said 3:04PM on 3-29-2008

I think it looks better this way. They should keep it black to promote goth day or somesuch.

whiskey said 4:13PM on 3-29-2008

Most of the world does not have fancy LCD monitors!

Steven said 4:39PM on 3-29-2008

Earth Hour has to be the worst idea to come out of the camp of tree huggers. I think I'm going to turn ON everything I have tonight from 8-10pm.

Rumble said 5:36PM on 3-29-2008

You sound like a nice guy.

Steven said 5:36PM on 3-29-2008

Just being honest.

julian said 10:26PM on 3-29-2008

i get it if you dont want to change your habits but why would you try to counteract others actions

Rich said 10:44PM on 3-29-2008

Its a dumb idea because it uses more energy when everything gets turned back on then it would to simply leave them on.

The sentiment is nice but in practice its a bad idea.

Bufsabre said 8:07AM on 3-30-2008

thats exactly what i did, i live in buffalo and we get out power from the falls, i have some of the cleanest electricity in the world

and @rich
not true at all, theyve done studies cause thats not even close to being true, most devices only take about 2-3 seconds to extra power to get to operating condition. well this is true unless you use alot of hair curlers and waflle irons and other things with heat coils but i mean honestly those dont even take *THAT* long

Rocketboy said 2:14PM on 3-30-2008

Buff: I live in WNY as well, and I hate to break it to you, but most of our power comes from the coal plants in the area. Most of the electricity from the Robert Moses plant goes downstate. Because you should know by now, NY is the great parasite on NYS.

RED_404 said 10:26PM on 3-29-2008

If you like that checkout http://hell.com/xit.html
Its my default home page :)

Anton said 10:03AM on 3-30-2008

While Google scolds the rest of the world about turning off the lights, we should turn our attention to this month’s Harper’s, which has an interesting look at Google’s plans to exploit cheap electricity in Oregon. Thanks to a boatload of government subsidies, Google located its new server farm on the Columbia River — where it will use enough electricity to light Tacoma, Washington.

But that’s not the best part. According to Harper’s, Google and its competitors have now started building data centers in places like Lithuania, Dublin, Siberia, and Shanghai. What do all these locations have in common? Except for Lithuania, where 78% of the power will be nuclear, all of them rely on carbon-spewing energy production with lower prices and fewer controls on emissions. So much for Earth Hour, eh?

http://harpers.org/media/slideshow/annot/2008-03/index.html

Ethan said 12:25PM on 3-30-2008

come on Download Squad, it is the thought that counts. Don't get caught up in the details and look at the big picture. That is how you should go through your entire life.

Rocketboy said 2:16PM on 3-30-2008

It's not the thought that counts. Is if one's actions actually mean anything.

Ben said 3:15PM on 3-30-2008

It's amazing how people are suckered into these plans as if they do any good... seems its also the same people who believe global warming is still occurring and co2 is actually a dangerous emission. Read the news people! Al Gore is wrong! (not to mention the fact that his carbon footprint is bigger than some small towns due to his hummer, private jets, private tour buses, etc).

VTFootball said 2:35PM on 3-31-2008

I was setting up a friends network this past weekend and I went to google when I setup the network and saw this page. I was sitting there thinking I wonder if the graphics card went bad, but I guess not.

Sanjay John G. said 5:26PM on 4-07-2008

A site which has offered search in various background colors, including black, is www.searchincolor.com

I love the green on white and the blue on white...or reverse, very nice.

Sanjay

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