We need to turn our attention to reducing energy consumption of computers. I don’t know about you, but I leave my computer on overnight, along with my printer, mostly because I have not made it a habit to close it down/put in standby. As it pertains to my television and media center, I systematically put them in standby mode which is palatable (and basically more convenient since, in the case of the media center it is powered by PC [Acer], meaning it takes forever to boot if I shut down). And then there is the energy consumption while still using the computer. As I type, I notice that Blogger has white space all around my ‘input box.’ I don’t need that white space, which is sort of like having an unnecessary lightbulb switched on. So, there’s a movement afoot to go green on line, starting with Google. The darker side of Google exists already in two versions: Darkoogle, Blackle or Ninja (Deadly Accurate). Some have shown this “green” effort to be no more than a greenback money making scheme. Others can still see the light (like LCD screens)…

Unfortunately, this concept is only appropriate for the computers using good old fashioned Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT). In LCD screens, the backlight is always on, regardless of the color used on the front of the screen. Nonetheless, TreeHugger provides great details how, based on the number of Google searches done every day (200 million), if the screen were black rather than white, there would be a saving of 750 megawatt-hours per year. It would appear that we’re talking $75,000 in savings worldwide. But, hey, I enjoy the concept. And, to avoid having corrective eye surgery because of the harsh white on black, there are alternative easier-on-the-eye versions. See Emergy-C, The Low Wattage Palette.

In any case, some ecological efforts are more worthy than others. But the discussion is the voyage. For a wiki-esque link on the subject. And for the over-the-top techies, here’s some kilowatt gibberish about electrical consumption on computers.