Blackle

Developed by Heap Media Australia, is this easy alternative to Google... what's the difference? Instead of a white background, it's black. Other than that, there are plenty of Google extras that have been omitted.

So what's the big deal? Blackle argues that computer monitors use different amounts of energy dependent on what colors they are showing. In a 2002 study, they determined that an all black screen used less energy than an all white screen. Although this might be insignificant during your own 30 second search, think of the billions of hits that Google receives. Blackle creators estimate that a black Google would save 750 megawatt hours per year. To put that in perspective, 1 megawatt hour is the equivalent of 10,000 hundred-watt light bulbs turned on for 1 hour. On the Blackle Homepage they have a counter showing the number of watt hours saved. As of August 28, 2008 they claim to have saved 793,544.792 watt hours.