0

There are claims that blackle.com conserves energy given that it is darker themed and produces less light. There is a counter under the search box that constantly increases. But in today's era of computers, laptops, tablets etc does it really conserver anything? Yes screen brightness affect battery life but does it make any big of an effect? In laptops which are plugged in? In desktop computer monitors which consume the same power anyhow as long as they are showing something?

What are the scientific facts behind this?

If it really does conserve energy, will I (as an end user), by using it, actually see any benefits on my electric bill?

John Demetriou
  • 357
  • 3
  • 12
  • 1
    This is not strictly a duplicate: answers here should take into account the costs of using the site such as extra traffic to forward to Google, but that question only concerns the screen itself. Answers here should also consider the ticker (“6,512,617.474 Watt hours saved”) on the Blackle screen, which is either faked or does extra communication. – PJTraill Nov 15 '17 at 12:11

1 Answers1

2

It all depends on the technology; displays where each pixel produces light, such as LED or plasma displays, obviously should consume less energy.

This is not true, however, for the common back-lit LCDs: http://techlogg.com/2010/05/black-vs-white-screen-power-consumption-24-more-monitors-tested/17

I believe the black webpage may consume more energy than usual white google. Anyway, the effect of monitor is negligible compared, e.g., to the additional CPU power spent on running animated flash ads.

Filip
  • 36
  • 1
  • This is about OLED screens that are used on mobile devices almost exclusively. OLED screens use zero power for a black pixel. You talk about display technology, but in the reference list you give there is no talk of it and no mobile devices. – MrDosu Dec 10 '14 at 13:14