Earth Hour 2009: No Dark Google Homepage This Year

Get ready for Earth Hour.  It happens on Saturday night.

Cities world-wide are expected to participate, shutting off the lights to raise awareness for energy conservation.

Unlike last year, however, Google.com will not “go dark” this year.  You see, computers use the same amount of energy, regardless of the color that the monitor may be displaying at the time.  Besides, the dark screens were apparently confusing to some.

Google has been taking energy matters very seriously over the past year, however.  Here are just a few of the things the company has done:

• Remodeled their San Francisco office to achieve a Gold rating by the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System
• Their engineers are working on a tool called Google PowerMeter that will show consumers home energy information almost in real time, right on their computer
• They’ve designed the most efficient data centers possible and are sharing some of their best practices with industry peers
• This past fall, they compiled tips and tricks to help users save energy
• Their summit on plug-in vehicles in Washington was standing room only, with policy, technology, and energy experts all discussing an electric vehicle future

Google will continue its greener efforts throughout the year, as should you.  So turn out the lights on Saturday night.  It’s more fun in the dark anyway.

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