Comments on: 5 Ways To Reduce The Power Consumption Of Your Computer

By: Glenn

Glenn — Sun, 17 May 2009 23:03:52 +0000

Scientific American, which did their own research, agrees with the Wall Street Journal article, as does most of the “expert” research I’ve come across. For the majority of LCD monitors nowadays, black uses more energy than white. This may change as newer models–such as those that use LED backlighting–emerge.

By: toneroo

toneroo — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:40:00 +0000

If the internet goes all black, it will make a huge difference in energy consumption because everyone will stop using it. Ever see what happens to your eyes after reading a page of text on a black background?

No thanks, I’ll stick with other more practical ways of reducing energy consumption.

By: curts

curts — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:28:07 +0000

A better tip than Blackle would be to recommend exchanging that fancy screensaver for “blank”, as the fancy screensaver consumes more power by driving all the eye candy instead of letting the CPU & GPU idle. Next, be aggressive about your screensaver delay and monitor standby delays, say 5-10 minutes for the screensaver delay and another 5 minutes before monitor standby kicks in.

By: James Yeang

James Yeang — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:52:23 +0000

@nikkon: Glad it works well for you!
@Arvin: Not all LCD screens have a rest state of ‘always on’. It worked for Nikkon for example.
@Cody: Thanks.
@Sean: Yep
@adobe: It’s meant to be an aggregate effect.
@Boules: I agree it’s a point of contention, but please don’t mistake it for misleading information.

One of the key arguments in favor of black screens is a 2002 research study produced by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory entitled “Energy Use and Power Levels in New Monitors and Personal Computers.” The report indicates that “a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen.” Indeed, that study reports that black screens consistently require less energy than white screens, regardless of whether the monitor is a CRT or LCD.

By: krishna

krishna — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:36:00 +0000

Is it possible to create blackle toolbar instead of google toolbar. Does google provided blackle toolbar?

By: Boules

Boules — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:40:03 +0000

Please, next time don't waste your time and your energy with misleading pieces of information like that tip about Blackie. Even . Nobody has saved any watt due to this false tip, but instead caused damage to his eyes. Stop spreading such nonsense.

By: adobe

adobe — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:59:10 +0000

Blackie is the most stupid thing.. How long does one wait on a google screen… 2-3s max…. nobody leaves a google home page open ha ha ha

By: Sean

Sean — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:55:09 +0000

So, in a way, wouldn’t this also be a way to increase the battery life of say, your laptop?

By: codyp

codyp — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:56:44 +0000

Great tips! I believe there are other sites like blackle that I have come across. Google should implement that feature.

By: Arvin Bautista

Arvin Bautista — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:43:12 +0000

Yeah, Blackie is a complete waste of time for LCD screens, which I assume a majority of users are viewing on now (including laptops). LCD screens have a perpetual light behind the screen, and the liquid crystals activate in different colors to block that light. But the light is always on.

I can’t back up the following, but potentially having all black would actually waste more energy since that would mean that the light was being most blocked?