Blackle is an
internet search engine
A search engine is a software system that provides hyperlinks to web pages, and other relevant information on the Web in response to a user's query. The user enters a query in a web browser or a mobile app, and the search results are typically ...
powered by
Google Programmable Search Engine. It was created by Tony Heap of Heap Media Australia with the goal of saving energy by displaying a black background with grayish-white text color on search results. As of July 2023, Blackle claims to have saved over 10.07
MWh
A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour. Kilowatt-hours are a commo ...
of electrical energy.
Concept
The concept behind Blackle is that
computer monitors
A computer monitor is an output device that displays information in pictorial or textual form. A discrete monitor comprises a visual display, support electronics, power supply, housing, electrical connectors, and external user controls.
The ...
can use less energy by displaying darker colors. Blackle's design is based on a study that tested a variety of
CRT
CRT or Crt most commonly refers to:
* Cathode-ray tube, a display
* Critical race theory, an academic framework of analysis
CRT may also refer to:
Law
* Charitable remainder trust, United States
* Civil Resolution Tribunal, Canada
* Columbia ...
and
LCD monitor
A thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT LCD) is a type of liquid-crystal display that uses thin-film transistor, thin-film-transistor technology to improve image qualities such as addressability and contrast. A TFT LCD is an active mat ...
s. However, the energy-saving claims, especially for users of LCD screens with a constant backlight, are disputed.
This concept was brought to the attention of Heap Media by a
blog post
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order so that the most recent post appe ...
, estimating that
Google
Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
could save 750
megawatt hours a year by using it for
CRT
CRT or Crt most commonly refers to:
* Cathode-ray tube, a display
* Critical race theory, an academic framework of analysis
CRT may also refer to:
Law
* Charitable remainder trust, United States
* Civil Resolution Tribunal, Canada
* Columbia ...
screens.
The homepage of Blackle provides a count of the number of watt hours claimed to have been saved by enabling this concept.
History
Blackle launched in January 2007, gaining popularity and being featured in multiple
mainstream media
In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large Mass media, mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Noam Chomsky, Choms ...
outlets during that time.
Blackle International, which translated Blackle into
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
,
French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
,
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus
*Czech (surnam ...
,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
, and
Dutch
Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
** Dutch people as an ethnic group ()
** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship ()
** Dutch language ()
* In specific terms, i ...
, was retired in 2019. Th
International pagestill exists, but every link listed has experienced
link rot
Link rot (also called link death, link breaking, or reference rot) is the phenomenon of hyperlinks tending over time to cease to point to their originally targeted file, web page, or server due to that resource being relocated to a new address ...
. As of 2021, the site is only available in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Culture, language and peoples
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
* ''English'', an Amish ter ...
.
See also
*
Light-on-dark color scheme
A light-on-dark color scheme, better known as dark mode, dark theme or night mode, is a color scheme that uses light-colored text, icons, and graphical user interface elements on a dark background. It is often discussed in terms of computer ...
*
Performance per watt
In computing, performance per watt is a measure of the energy efficiency of a particular computer architecture or computer hardware. Literally, it measures the rate of computation that can be delivered by a computer for every watt of power con ...
*
Comparison of web search engines
Web search engines are listed in tables below for comparison purposes. The first table lists the company behind the engine, volume and ad support and identifies the nature of the software being used as free software or proprietary software. The ...
*
List of search engines
Search engines, including web search engines, selection-based search engines, metasearch engines, desktop search tools, and web portals and vertical market websites have a search facility for online databases.
By content/topic
General ...
*
List of search engines by popularity
A search engine is a software system that provides hyperlinks to web pages, and other relevant information on World Wide Web, the Web in response to a user's web query, query. The user enters a query in a web browser or a mobile app, and the sea ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackle.Com
Australian websites
Energy conservation
Environmental websites
Web services
Web service providers
Google
Computers and the environment
Internet properties established in 2007