A mate of mine in Ireland just showed me that Google.ie has decided to switch over to a black background with the following text: “We’ve turned the lights out. Now it’s your turn – Earth Hour“
We’ve heard rumours and seen fake google sites do this before, but this one is for real and if you don’t believe me, click on over to Google.ie and take a look for yourself!
Despite the environmental benefits of the black background/white writing there is no combination of colours that makes me feel slightly sick while looking at them on my screen.
After about 5 mins of that colour scheme I find the white text almost stands out like a 3D picture.
Thankfully I use Google through the Firefox search function :)
It’s a contentious matter, whether having a black background really saves electricity (I understand this is the case only for old monitors).
Thats actually a very smart idea. We getting the same thing at work it looks like> When the load shedding gets bad we have a light that will come on and we’ll then switch over to gas ovens..
SaulK – I must admit, the black isn’t the best, they could have gone with a dark gray or something, cos it’s slightly dizzy making.
South African – I think it actually does help hey bro..
BlairH – Ye, I’ve heard all about the Butlers movement, was involved in some of the decision process :)
Chris, it’s not a clear-cut issue that it does help.
“our own analysis as well as that of others shows that making the Google homepage black will not reduce energy consumption. To the contrary, on flat-panel monitors (already estimated to be 75% of the market), displaying black may actually increase energy usage.”
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/is-black-new-green.html
I remember reading an article a while back, which explained the electricity saving because of less visual emission, etc. Unfortunately, I can’t find the article, which is kind of lame.
Nice find on that article though, I’d love to know some more precise facts though, will continue to look around :)
Thanks for the update..
There are arguments both ways – it’s not a black and white issue (if you’ll forgive the lame pun!)
Google looked into it and said “displaying black may actually increase energy usage”. Regardless I think it’s great they are supporting the effort.
Here is the Google post from last here:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/is-black-new-green.html
“it’s not a black and white issue” – HAHA! Good one :)
Increase! Sheesh, now that’s interesting!
a simple click to this page http://www.google.ie/intl/en_ie/earthhour/, and u will realise that the colour is not the point.
the point is to build awareness, which it is doing right now! And its pretty big actually! not very often does google bend over backwards like this, and what better shocking, in your face way than this?
I like the initiative, did a post on energy saving searches a while back as well.
HoTsTePPa.. spot on, I actually took the time a few minutes ago to read the page, and it’s clear that it is about awareness.
Dimitrio – It’s good to see be big boys spending some time to solve these matters!
Interesting to know how many ppl actually put their lights off today in SA.
I did, did you?
I turned off everything in my room, except for my computer. Fortunately I was going out for dinner, so it was easier for me, but I did make an effort :)
Good on you HoTsTePPa!
I so badly want to see google.co.za do that. Darken the background. Sometimes it’s just nice to know that even the huge companies could suffer from blackouts.
In the end, we’re all plugged into the same grid. Unless of course if you’re a redneck with a car dynamo wired up to your distribution board, and the whole lot runs on horse manure. Though that’s an eco-story for another day :)
~ Wogan
Hehe, ya, I don’t know what Google will do, I would have thought that they’d just do it with all the Google “stations”
bwhahhah @ car dynamo!
Google actually has an info page up about the black background – saying its purely for raising awareness as it actually saves no electricity whatsoever…
Ye Dave, thanks for popping in, we pasted the links a few comments up :)
It’s not a new thing though, Blackle have been around for a good year or more:
http://www.blackle.com/
They take the stance that while blacking out the screen may not make a huge difference, keeping ourselves aware of the power we use helps. They also have other power saving tips and whatnot.
Absolutely, I remember blogging about Blackle many moons ago, but it’s good to see Google actually doing this now and creating awareness!
Yup, it’s all awareness :)
It is good, ja. But what would really be good is people using it, and setting that as their homepage and finding other power saving tips.
The problem is sadly not just that we don’t have awareness on eco issues, but also that we don’t do as much as we could with that awareness.
I was having a chat with my bosses today, and the one was telling me about an incredible community trade project that works like a barter system. This organisation does work with the brilliant organic food company Ethical Co-op, will do a proper post about it but it’s a really cool initiative.
The kak thing is that generally, it’s easier and more convenient to stay in our eco – unfriendly habits.
@ Rox – Don’t worry, climate change policies are on the way. There is actually ALOT happening about this issue on a policy level which is great news. Been reading up on some the issues lately, and it seems that right now talks are in progress with major industry players in Bangkok, to rework the Kyoto policy to increase its effectiveness. Expect to hear about Kyoto2 in the news soon.
I agree, most people don’t take notice and the sad thing is, they’ll all take notice when we’re being load shedded for 4 hours a day – always too late!
Ye, I definitely think awareness is increasing and more and more corporations are going to push for awareness, well I certainly hope so at least!
on a higher level the awareness is rife. expect heavier taxation on high carbon emitting industries etc. Carbon trading is also a pretty big deal with most nations nowadays, only China and India have decided to remain out of it, as this hinders their current economic growth.
but in short… yeah, things are changing real fast, and there is a huge drive for carbon reduction techniques, etc.
Good to hear that the Kyoto agreement is being reworked, have to wonder whether old G.W will give a shit, lol.
@ Chris, indeed – awareness is on the rise. I think that maybe though the answer for us as communities lies in things like community trade and co-op type options, as the big corporations are often the biggest eco-violators. Even the Woolies organic range isn’t totally enviro friendly when you consider the rest of their produce and the effect of their factories and whatnot. So places like P ‘n P for instance are way off the scale.
This is why I think that making small changes in our everyday lives is just as important as big global awareness initiatives. If we aren’t actually changing anything with our awareness, than it’s useless.
I don’t watch TV much, in fact, I never watch TV, are there awareness adverts on TV yet? How about the radio?
I hope so!