Google.com is black as the homepage! - Earth Hour

[Shazz]

http://www.google.com/intl/en/earthhour/

Google users in the United States will notice today that we "turned the lights out" on the Google.com homepage as a gesture to raise awareness of a worldwide energy conservation effort called Earth Hour. As to why we don't do this permanently - it saves no energy; modern displays use the same amount of power regardless of what they display. However, you can do something to reduce the energy consumption of your home PC by joining the Climate Savers Computing Initiative.

On Saturday, March 29, 2008, Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone. On this day, cities around the world, including Copenhagen, Chicago, Melbourne, Dubai, and Tel Aviv, will hold events to acknowledge their commitment to energy conservation.

Given our company's commitment to environmental awareness and energy efficiency, we strongly support the Earth Hour campaign, and have darkened our homepage today to help spread awareness of what we hope will be a highly successful global event.

[xc06]

i noticed too. didn't realized it is because of turning off lights.

[Shazz]

I freaked out, thought it was something wrong with my browser

[meaghannf]

I think it's fantastic how this event has grown - it started in Australia last year and now cities all over the world are taking part. Google, of course, is all over it being in the San Francisco Bay Area. In fact, the whole city is encouraging businesses and individuals to take part.

So... the real question is, can I turn my lights off but keep my computer running if I use google's black page?

[TheSites]

Google is awesome...

[miester]

Originally Posted by Shazz

I freaked out, thought it was something wrong with my browser

Same here, ROFL.

[ShaneC]

Good cause and concept. I wonder about the statistics, if something like this actually makes a difference. Instead of dimming the page Google should shut down their servers for 1 hour! lol

[meaghannf]

Are you guys familiar with Blackle? It's the same idea as Google (a search engine) but it's homepage is always black. It argues that this saves statistically significant amounts of energy (or it would if people used it instead of Google). Not sure it's true, but it shows Google isn't the first to have this idea.

[kingofsanda]

Originally Posted by ShaneC

Good cause and concept. I wonder about the statistics, if something like this actually makes a difference. Instead of dimming the page Google should shut down their servers for 1 hour! lol

I was thinking the same thing will this actually make a difference in the world?

[Bryce]

Originally Posted by Shazz

I freaked out, thought it was something wrong with my browser

I thought Google was hacked !! but only the front page was turned black.

[Dreads]

they are coping blackle.. they should make this forever instead -_-

[ebob]

I thought it was my browser when I first saw it also. I kind of like the Earth Hour look.

[ameran]

I like that idea. I think Google is the only one who thought about it.

[bogart]

At first I thought that Google was copying the BlackGoogle site

http://www.blackwebsearch.com/index.html

[Shazz]

Originally Posted by bogart

At first I thought that Google was copying the BlackGoogle site

http://www.blackwebsearch.com/index.html

http://www.vbcoderz.com/googlepro.php

Thats the same thing, its google adsense search

[tmikuckis]

yea I noticed that, I thought something was just wrong with the page at first. I tried refreshing the page a few times till I finally noticed what it was for. Then I went and turned some of my lights off

[masfenix]

Originally Posted by kingofsanda

I was thinking the same thing will this actually make a difference in the world?

if you mean Earth Hour then yes, Australia alone saved the equivalent of taking of 50,000 cars off the road.

[zippy1nut]

very kewl find.

[cogger]

Better yet, why could'nt Google unplug their servers for an hour. LOL. This blackout is a joke. If you really want to conserve and make a difference then visit my alternative fuels link in my sig.

[angilina]

Silly me, I forgot to turn off the lights