Why Blackle and not Polkadottle? Earlier this year, the EcoIron blog featured a post on how “Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a year.” This sparked enough debate to get people talking about actually creating an energy efficient search engine. Wikipedia has additional info on the emergence of Blackle.

Google does not own Blackle, meaning the bells and whistles Google users are accustomed to are not available. Blackle is operating solely on the homepage. Results appear in a light grey text, but once you click on a new URL you are thrown back into the colorful world of the internet. Blackle also provides an eco-friendly reminder at the bottom of the page showing the number of watt hours saved. This is a small reminder that you are making a difference.

There have been heated debates among online skeptics who question Blackle’s efficiency, especially when comparing a LCD monitor with a CRT. Some tests have even shown that there are no energy savings to be found using Blackle on a LCD monitor.

Whether or not this truly saves a great deal of energy, it is sparking healthy conversations about the everyday things people can start doing to help conserve energy. It is certainly a nice contrast to thinking green.