Google could have promoted energy conservation by lighting up gigantic "save electricity" billboards. Instead, in at least one country, the search giant has taken the equally unproductive path of turning its homepage black.
Black Google Israel
This would have been okay in the past; old CRT monitors use up more energy when displaying white space than black. But when LCDs are involved, the reverse is true, and flat screens dominate most markets. This should be no less the case in Israel, which has (at least) as many tech goodies as the U.S.
So it's in Israel that Google made its mistake of supporting Earth Hour with a black homepage. America's Earth Hour is scheduled to start this Friday at 8 PM (according to everyone's local time); it should be interesting to see if Google.com goes dark in preparation.
As Loren Baker notes, Google's put on a black screen at least once before in a nod to Lights Out San Francisco. Other mildly silly environmental gestures have also been made, but those tended to be goofy in the "drop in a bucket" sense, not this counterproductive one.
We've not yet heard about any marches on Mountain View, but the Earth Hour development has to be at least mildly frustrating to some people, and should embarrass Google, too.
About the author:
Doug is a staff writer for
WebProNews. Visit
WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.
iEntry 10th Anniversary
RSS
Newsletter
Advertising
Google Observes Earth Hour, Gets Energy Issue Backward
You've missed the whole point.
The screen could have been blue, red, green or whatever colour you like - the immediate conservation of energy is not the point of the exercise. I'm reading this article because of the google stunt - so mission accomplished to me and millions of others who will no doubt do the same and be made aware of Earth Day.
Perhaps what comes from this will save energy in the future as people are encouraged to change attitudes.