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Change Google's Background Color To Save Energy?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the turned-off-until-further-notice dept.

i_like_spam writes "Recent commentary at Nature Climate Change describes an on-going debate about the energy savings associated with the background colors used by high-traffic websites such as Google and the NYTimes. A back of the envelope calculation has suggested energy savings of 750 Megawatt hours per year if Google switched their background from white to black. In response, a new version of Google called Blackle was created. However, other calculations by the Wall Street Journal suggest minimal energy savings."

19 of 519 comments (clear)

  1. Oh, the irony.... by mark-t · · Score: 5, Funny

    A site that criticizes google for having a light background itself uses a light background.

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    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    1. Re:Oh, the irony.... by Yetihehe · · Score: 3, Funny

      Why freaks?. This means there are 10 types of people... those who like bright background and those who like dark background. So it's just a matter of liking.

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      Extreme Programming - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Developers
    2. Re:Oh, the irony.... by KiloByte · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah, but only one of these schemes is The Right One.

      And judging from your heretical approach to this matter, I guess you may even use Emacs. Eew.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    3. Re:Oh, the irony.... by Forseti · · Score: 2, Funny

      I just use mcedit

      Oh, so YOU'RE the guy! ;-)
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      Delay is preferable to error. (Thomas Jefferson)
  2. double entendre by User+956 · · Score: 5, Funny

    A back of the envelope calculation has suggested energy savings of 750 Megawatt hours per year if Google switched their background from white to black. In response, a new version of Google called Blackle was created.

    Once Google has gone Black, they'll never go back. That's what I hear, anyway.

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    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
    1. Re:double entendre by Corporate+Troll · · Score: 3, Funny

      Can't we go to the middle ground and let Google go Asian? Asians are way hotter than Whites and Blacks.

      Of course, I wouldn't know how to implement that, but damn, they're Google, they're going to find a way!

      On the other hand, we're talking about energy savings and global warming, so perhaps having a "hotter homepage" is going to be counterproductive.

    2. Re:double entendre by yoyhed · · Score: 5, Funny

      Can't we go to the middle ground and let Google go Asian?

      Of course, I wouldn't know how to implement that


      Umm... "body bgcolor=#FFFF00" ?
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      WHO NEEDS SHIFT WHEN YOU HAVE CAPSLOCK/ DAMN1
  3. Slashdotters, take notice by archeopterix · · Score: 5, Funny

    PLEASE USE BOLD AND UPPERCASE IN YOUR COMMENTS. A +5 COMMENT IN BOLD AND UPPERCASE SAVES 5 DONKEY-FORTHNIGHTS OF THE ENERGY

    1. Re:Slashdotters, take notice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Anything with the word "Donkey-fortnight" gets past the lameness filter

    2. Re:Slashdotters, take notice by sqldr · · Score: 5, Funny

      How on earth did you get that through the lamness filter?

      It was conserving energy.

      --
      I wrote my first program at the age of six, and I still can't work out how this website works.
  4. Bring back the BLINK tag... by Octopus · · Score: 5, Funny

    It will provide at least 50% in power savings.

    Then again, that extra money might get taken up in seizure meds.

  5. Ok, how about by archeopterix · · Score: 2, Funny

    The vast majority of people run LCD monitors these days. For the most part they run with a backlight of constant brightness - so there is no energy saving with a black screen.
    Poor excuse for not saving teh energy. Just use bloogle AND switch to CRT. Or else the whales will die!
  6. Re:silly by cerberusss · · Score: 2, Funny

    No, indeed, this will bring lots of extra costs as well. The black background will push many, many slashdotters into the abyss of depression. To counter this, they will flee into light therapy and burn up many gigawatts of healthy light.

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    8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
  7. Re:Only applicable for CRTs by MrNaz · · Score: 4, Funny

    Apparently people who can spell correctly are also a dying breed.

    Mod me down and prove me right.

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    I hate printers.
  8. WHY IT GOTTA BE BLACK!??!! by canipeal · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sorry, it's really late/early...I just couldn't resist.

  9. Feel the by jsse · · Score: 5, Funny

    POWER saving of the darkside...

    Skywalker: pardon?!

    1. Re:Feel the by RuBLed · · Score: 4, Funny

      ha! so that's why the dark jedi's lightsabers last longer.. they go in power saving mode when idle...

  10. Re:Only applicable for CRTs by Detritus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thread makers are a dyeing breed.

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    Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
  11. Black background in Porn too! by TWX · · Score: 4, Funny

    I found that porn sites use mostly black backgrounds with light (usually pink) text. I've committed this research for over thirteen years, and I consider myself something of an expert on the subject...

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    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.