New test shows Blackle may increase power use

After shooting to prominence over the past month or two, the black-themed search engine Blackle is back in the headlines.

A new Techlogg test shows that while it definitely helps cut energy use on CRT screens (those old monsters that you could barely carry on your own), it may actually increase power consumption on newer, and increasingly ubiquitous, LCD screens (although on very large screens it still has a beneficial effect).

Google has been noticing all the attention and its blog is happy to highlight the fact that this research has come to light, which it says corroborates its own (unpublished) analysis. Still, it says it “applauds the spirit of the idea”. Which is nice.