“Baby, it don’t matter if you’re black or white” - The Prince of Pop

Debate has raged on (seemingly for years now) as to whether or not switching to websites utilizing black backgrounds makes a real and significant difference in power consumption of computer monitors.  Proponents such as Blackle claim that if everyone switched to a black version of Google, we could save upwards of 750 Megawatt-hours per year.

So what’s the truth? Do black background websites really make a difference in power consumption?  Well, according to an article and research on Techlogg, the difference is somewhat disappointing.  Basically, they ran a pretty extensive test of 27 different computer monitors of various sizes and brands (including 23 LCD monitors) and found that in most cases, the power consumption difference was pretty negligible (some monitors even consumed more power using the black background Blackle!).

Now in all fairness, when testing standard CRT (Cathode Ray Tube or big, bulky, old tube-television style monitor that takes up my entire desk) monitors, they found that consumption was lowered but by closer to half (7-8 watts) of the 15 watts claimed by Blackle and its sources.

How about a little perspective? Did you know that LCD computer monitors now dominate the world marketplace for computer monitors at over 75%?  If your math is a little shaky, that means that less than 25% of computers worldwide are still using CRT monitors, which means that the 7-8 saved watts of blackness is less significant everyday that someone upgrades to a new LCD monitor.  The results of the Techlogg study were not necessarily surprising to me or probably anyone familiar with how an LCD TV or computer monitor works.

According to Webopedia:

“Short for liquid crystal display, LCD is a type of display that uses two sheets of polarizing material with a liquid crystal solution between them. An electric current passed through the liquid causes the crystals to align so that light cannot pass through them. Each crystal, therefore, is like a shutter, either allowing light to pass through or blocking the light.”

So in other words, when you visit a site with a black background on an LCD monitor, the backlight is still turned on but the “shutters” are closed and screen now black.  I suppose if you still own a CRT monitor you could relish in your 8 watt savings OR you could go out an purchase an LCD monitor and save upwards of 50 watts at all times the monitor is turned on.  That’s right, LCD’s consume about half the energy in the first place compared to CRT monitors!

So the bottom line? If you’re using a CRT monitor, you are saving a pretty small amount of energy on black background sites; however, if you’d upgrade to an LCD monitor, you could be saving between 5-7 times the energy at all times when your monitor is turned on.

How do you make an LCD monitor even more eco-friendly? Try this free and simple method that will tell you just how much power and money you’ll save each year using it!

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