Blackle.com touts a running count of how many Watts it has saved. This is a counter based on the idea that the level of energy consumption from non-illuminated pixels is significant enough to actually help ebb the wasteful flow of energy from the 17" screens in front of each of our faces. Did we believe it? Hell No baby...we question everything. At first thought, I said, I'll bet its true. I admit, I know nothing about LCD energy consumption. So, Paul, myself, and Jason Hernandez, the sales associate at the company who brougt this to our attention, slated and performed a test to see what the truth was. Hint: Get Snopes.com on this right away.
Our test included one 19" flat screen LCD model E197FP, FireFox 2.0 and a Watts Up? EZ Electrical Consumption meter in our offices. We opened the browser to the Google.com page, and opened a tab to the Blackle.com page. When in the primary position, Google.com consumed 28.2 watts, give or take 1-2 tenths of a watt. When we switched over to Blackle.com in the same browser, pointed to a primary navigation position, the same monitor consumed 29.4 watts, give or take the same confidence interval. In order to help with our validation of this test, we performed the test again with the camera running for everyone to see. Now, keep in mind, we did not use a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) should that be the majority of screens used, maybe the explanation of consumption would be viable. However, with the percentage and pervasiveness of LCD, the expense of the site does not justify or envirtue its existence.
Now, this has peaked our interest. The meter itself is fun. We can measure in volts, amps, watts, or even set it to record how much money each item will cost. Business and residential users alike have to love the fact that you can see Watt your electrical bill will be before you get it and how much each appliance is costing. True, at least for me, that our utility (FP And L) actually provides this data to help curb excessive consumption of energy. But, for some, this may actually make a difference in expense, and aid in the battle for awareness of consumption. Imagine that...
3 comments:
Blackle is just the first page of www.searchincolor.com which has offered google search in color since much longer.
I think black doesn't save much energy-and google officially said that in their blog somewhere-but it is good to have a more colorful internet search experience.
Sanjay
There is also the Carbon Neutral Search Engine it uses Google Custom Search but offsets a minimum of 100g of CO2 per search, saving the environment as you search by investing into renewable technologies, reforestation and energy efficiency around the world
It's "piqued" our interest, not "peaked."
And I'm so disappointed that Blackle doesn't really work. I still like it.
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