Google Clarifies “Black Google” Blackle May Not Save Energy

If you make the background color of your monitor screen black, does it help to save energy? I was recently introduced to Blackle, a site using the Google custom search with a black background which claims to save energy. But Google does not seem to agree.

The Blackle screen displays “181,595.807 Watt hours saved” right now. Blackle encourages you to set it as your home page, so you save energy everytime you load your Internet browser. How does it work?

“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.”

It originated from the idea if Black Google would save 750 Megawatt-hours a year and now they have a Wiki-esque post that covers the full story on Black Google and a lot of new similar “colored” Google services which have appeared.

Now Google has responded on their official Google blog on the energy saving issue.

We applaud the spirit of the idea, but 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. Detailed results from a new study confirm this.

Now you decide. Hey! there is a Blackle India too!