14 DAY TRIAL // No, it has nothing to do with the recent allegations that the respective Wikipedia pages have Nazi supporting content, it has nothing to do with the fact that the two countries speak the same language, it is an attempt to raise awareness of a nationwide energy conservation, called "Licht aus! F?r unser Klima" or "Lights out! For our climate".
What actually happened is that the Google homepage had a black background, as you can see in the picture on the left. It's pretty interesting to know that by displaying black, the amount of energy consumption needed for the action increases. Nevertheless, it is a really good way to draw somebody's attention, by switching the color he is used to with one that nobody really wants to see in front of his/her eyes at any time while surfing the web. And furthermore, if it all goes down the way it should, the energy saving, which will result out of the hour long pause they are asking the general populace to do, will greatly out wage the amount used for displaying black.
The event that is due to happen in San Francisco was previewed by the users back in October, but the date it is set for is way in March next year, on the 29th. Their aim is to promote a citywide energy conservation event: "On this night, we invite the entire city of San Francisco to install one compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) and turn off all non-essential lighting for one hour." By their calculations, that hour worth of energy saving by everybody could equal as much as 15 percent of the energy consumed on an average Saturday night.
A worthy cause for Google to throw its weight around, they seem to be heading more and more to the "green" way of thinking, just look at the plan it has for the renewable energy, as opposed to the classic coal derived one.