Google has rejected the idea of providing a black background to its search homepage in order to reduce the energy used by computer monitors.The idea for the dark background was suggested by a site called Blackle which, although not related to Google, does use its custom search engine.
Green energy czar at Google Bill Weihl commended the intentions of the site but said that his company's analysis as well as that of others indicates that making the search engine's homepage black would not reduce the amount of energy consumed.
"To the contrary, on flat-panel monitors - already estimated to be 75 per cent of the market - displaying black may actually increase energy usage," he noted on the official Google blog.
However, "reducing climate change by saving energy is an important effort we should all join", he added.
Mr Weihl suggested a number of things that consumers can do in order to reduce the energy consumed by their computers.
Such measures include turning on power management features which mean computers switch into low-power modes when they are inactive and ensuring that computers meet the efficiency standards of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative (CSCI).
CSCI brings together a range of interests including industry, consumers and conservation organisations in an attempt to increase the energy efficiency of servers and computers.
It claims that the average desktop computer wastes nearly 50 per cent of the power delivered to it.
