More energy saving ideas...

[iamthewalrus]

On the same theme of the Bulbasoar idea-ie. everyone should use energy saving light bulbs-what about other simple energy saving ideas that we could implement? My idea involves a switch from Google to a new idea called Blackle (http://www.blackle.com/about). This uses a black background instead of a white one to save energy. The only downside to this is that you can't do an image search, which is a bit of a bummer...Any other ideas?

[BlueIncaPilot]

Aleady use Blackle, as of last week. Don't really get how it saves energy though.

[ZOIDBERG]

It uses light energy to show coloured pixels; the brighter they are, the more energy they need. As white is the brightest colour and black is essentially no colour at all, it uses a lot less energy to make Google black.

[BlueIncaPilot]

So is it worth it? Does it save a decent amount of energy just by colour change?

[ZOIDBERG]

According to the site it's saved 258kWh. That's about how much 180 bulbs use if you leave them on for a day. So not that much really... I think it's had about a million searches.

[iamthewalrus]

I agree, it's not much. I reckon not many people know about it though. I must admit it bugs me sometimes that you can't just flip over to images, and I'm all igoogled so the google search engine shows my mail and caleder and that... Hmmmm, for someone who was singling blackle's praises, I'm not doing too well, am I...? Still, it's a neat idea and I think people should t least give it a go!

[Martinus]

Don't buy a bloody huge, power-hungry, dual-core PC if all you want to do is type up word documents and browse the web.

Switch off all devices that are on standby overnight.

[AngryPaul]

So is it worth it? Does it save a decent amount of energy just by colour change?Apparently it only really saves energy if used on a CRT monitor. On LCDs it doesn't actually make the much difference as the black pixels still need a good amount of energy to be shown.

[happy-go-lucky]

On LEDs the crystals just rotate or something, using the same amount of energy. I think.

[Martinus]

Apparently it only really saves energy if used on a CRT monitor. On LCDs it doesn't actually make the much difference as the black pixels still need a good amount of energy to be shown.

On LCD's you don't save electricity by showing black pixels you use more.
LCD's are backlit thus pixels are uniformly lit by default. In order to show a 'black' pixel all colours are shown, all colours involve red, green and blue led's.
LED's have nothing to do with crystals; they are essentially doped silicon.

CRT's on the other hand use a beam of electrons to energise segments of the display which contain phosphorescent materials. i.e. the less area of the screen that needs to be lit the shorter the electron gun fires for per screen refresh and the more energy is conserved. (In theory).

[flapjackboy]

On LCD's you don't save electricity by showing black pixels you use more.
LCD's are backlit thus pixels are uniformly lit by default. In order to show a 'black' pixel all colours are shown, all colours involve red, green and blue led's.

Wrong. An LCD pixel with all subpixels switched on will be white. If the result of combining all light spectra resulted in black, flashlights would be pretty bloody useless, wouldn't they.

[DarkTrojan]

other simple energy saving ideas that we could implement?
Get off the fucking computer and stop wasting electricity.

[FuriousPanda]

Get off the fucking computer and stop wasting electricity.
NO U

[iamthewalrus]

Rightly said FuriousPanda. There's no need to be rude, and logically- DarkTrojan could start by taking their own advice and making everyones life more pleasant.

[bigmother]

harness the power of profanity!

[Bewildebeast]

Google have acknowledged Blackle and have said that it won't reduce energy consumption. They blogged about it here (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/is-black-new-green.html).

[AngryPaul]

Long live the almighty Google.



If I show my allegiance in the early stages of their global takeover, I'll be looked upon favourably.

[iamthewalrus]

Oh well. I should probably do more research... Blackle does look cool though-in a kind of-"look at me, I'm not mainstream" kind of way...

[senorpineapple]

I have an energy saving suggestion... I've been doing it for a while and it seems to have some sort of effect.

When you take a shower, use half the hot water you're used to, then adjust the cold to the right temp. Yes, the pressure is lower, but after a few showers you might get used to it.


(Yes, first post and it's not in Beginners, I have my flame suit on, go for it.)

[AngryPaul]

(Yes, first post and it's not in Beginners, I have my flame suit on, go for it.)Not at all. That was actually very coherent. Welcome.

[GorillaBearBear]

That whole blackle thing seems kind of silly? It just doesn't seem like ti would actually help. Aidgle is a much better idea.