Google: Lights Out San Francisco!

Saturday was the day when the Mountain View company turned the lights off and debuted a new search engine page for the San Francisco users which is based on a dark-colored layout. This was only Google's support for the energy conservation campaign started by the authorities from several regions but still no sign of permanent black Google homepage. In the past, rumors about a potential black Google website which would be able to reduce the amount of energy used by the monitors were denied by the Mountain View company. On Saturday, Google denied them once again although the San Francisco Google page was pretty dark.

A few months ago, a lot of consumers who analyzed the amount of energy used by computers' monitors sustained that a potential black Google homepage would support the energy conservation. Since Google's website is white and millions of users from all over the world access it, it was rumored that it requires way too much energy while a black one would reduce the energy consumption.

"We're committed to reducing the effects of climate change by promoting energy efficiency, but current evidence doesn't suggest that a permanent change to a black background would be beneficial to either the environment or our users. However, we're always on the lookout for ways to improve the user experience, and if new research uncovers new findings, our feelings on the subject could change," the Mountain View company noted on the main page of the 'Lights Out San Francisco' campaign.

The San Francisco Bay Area residents turned the lights off on Saturday, October 20, 2007 from 8 PM to 9 PM PDT, in a move meant to support the fight for energy conservation. "According to estimates, turning the lights out in San Francisco for even one hour could save as much as 15 percent of the energy consumed on an average Saturday night," Google, one of the companies which supported the campaign, stated.