Google Goes Dark For Earth Hour

In a sign of support for the conservation effort "Earth Hour," Google has turned its Google.com page black on Saturday, March 29th. As their statement explains:

Google users in the United States will notice today that we "turned the lights out" on the Google.com homepage as a gesture to raise awareness of a worldwide energy conservation effort called Earth Hour. As to why we don't do this permanently - it saves no energy; modern displays use the same amount of power regardless of what they display. However, you can do something to reduce the energy consumption of your home PC by joining the Climate Savers Computing Initiative.

On Saturday, March 29, 2008, Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour - from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone. On this day, cities around the world, including Copenhagen, Chicago, Melbourne, Dubai, and Tel Aviv, will hold events to acknowledge their commitment to energy conservation.

Read more about Google's Earth Hour efforts

Comments

[weavermiami]

10:16 PM on 03/30/2008

I believe we may have been one of the only households to have the power off in Miami Beach, FL (flipped the circuit breakers so there wasn't any power usage from clocks and the fridge)...didn't matter. I took a walk and had a great night knowing I was making a small symbolic gesture. This one hour won't save the planet, in an of itself, but I've decided to do this on my own throughout the year. And THANKS to Google, because I might have forgotten all about it, but every time I did a search, I was reminded.

[calgary]

02:06 PM on 03/30/2008

I had to turn my kitchen light on to see the screen better because my computer screen was too dark.

[Purple Girl]

12:53 PM on 03/30/2008

MY HOUSE WAS DARK!
Not only the lights, but the Heat , the Fridge , the Computer and all my clocks!
funny how you cna find things to do when all the noise is quited. thank goodness for the things that don't need to be plugged in to enrich our live- loved ones, pets, books, neighbors, contemplation.

[isis]

12:08 PM on 03/30/2008

We turned out our lights and turned off appliances. We went for a walk and came back and lit some candles. Since I could not get distracted by electronic things I cleaned the kitchen by candle light. We noticed that our home was quiet and peaceful that hour.

[Podewumun]

11:47 AM on 03/30/2008

I'll ask again. Is the GD Huffington Post moderation staff going to post comments, or not?

2 POSTS / 14 PENDING? / 3/30/2008/12:50 PM

If Huffington Post is going to IGNORE the Business Section, WHY BOTHER TO HAVE ONE?

[noam4prez]

08:29 AM on 03/30/2008

My comment did not go through last night, so I will try again, a little differently:

I hope Google figures out how to truly go green, because they use an enormous amount of electric power. I found some info on Wikipedia that estimates the power consumption:

"Estimates of the power required for over 450,000 servers range upwards of 20 megawatts, which could cost on the order of US$2 million per month in electricity charges."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_platform

[sparkey]

07:39 AM on 03/30/2008

I like what Goggle did to their web page. They should leave it dark. It looks a lot better.

[NickCatal]

05:41 AM on 03/30/2008

LCDs actually use MORE energy when displaying black... the display is natively white (an always-on light behind the screen) with the LCDs simply blocking out lightwaves in a pattern on the screen to make your mind think you are looking at one consistent image... the 'blocking out' takes energy to run, and with black you have to 'black out' (no pun intended) everything on the screen..

Having an all black screen would really only aid a plasma display save any real energy, since it takes energy to keep a color on the screen, with the screen natively black

[ohiomark]

11:21 AM on 03/30/2008

It's symbolic, and since symbolism is the only thing that liberals ever come up with, I would call it "par for the course".

Liberalism is only concerned with the intentions, never the results.

[isis]

12:10 PM on 03/30/2008

Oh yeah ONLY and NEVER. Appropriate word choices considering. Black and white thinking ...kind of like an adolescent or maybe a chimp.

[Ramirez]

01:43 AM on 03/30/2008

I enjoy google.

Turning lights off worldwide for a hour is a fine demonstration of commitment.

Test

[NewRiver]

01:01 AM on 03/30/2008

This statement is typical of the entire movement, from Al Gore on down: "As to why we don't do this permanently - it saves no energy; modern displays use the same amount of power regardless of what they display. However, you can do something to reduce the energy consumption of your home PC by joining the Climate Savers Computing Initiative." In other words, Google is doing their job by lecturing everyone else to do as they say, not as they do. What a bunch of hooey.

[RWMS]

12:11 AM on 03/30/2008

I joined in and encouraged my Myspace fans to join in (Observing Earth Hour 2008)... I think Atlanta as a whole did itself proud, as I noted that our Mayor Shirley Franklin was publicly behind the event in the local media.

[RWMS]

12:06 AM on 03/30/2008

I joined in and encouraged my Myspace fans to join in... I think Atlanta as a whole did itself proud, as I noted that our Mayor Shirley Franklin was publicly behind the event in the local media.

* http://www.myspace.com/ronwilesmusicshow

[ohiomark]

10:36 PM on 03/29/2008

"Earth Hour". Another stupid idea from the minds of liberals.

Get over yourselves Libs, you can't change the climate.

[WIpatriot]

11:52 PM on 03/30/2008

Marky-mark, 'tis you who needs to get over hisself.

[noam4prez]

09:39 PM on 03/29/2008

Google's server farms are massive power users. I hope they are figuring out how to go green. From Wikipedia:

"Though the numbers are not publicly known, some people estimate that Google maintains over 450,000 servers, arranged in racks located in clusters in cities around the world, with major centers in Mountain View, California; Virginia; Atlanta, Georgia; Dublin, Ireland; and new facilities constructed in The Dalles, Oregon[1] and Saint-Ghislain, Belgium.[2] In 2009 Google is planning one of its first sites in the upper midwest to open in Council Bluffs, Iowa close to abundant wind power resources for fulfilling green energy objectives and proximate to fiber optic communications links.[3]"

[muffinmix]

08:34 PM on 03/29/2008

if having a darker screen does not save energy why did they create blackle.com last year, a dark google homepage?