

Ask HN: Do darker pixels use less power? - walkon

I am asking because it seems to me that the closer a pixel on an LCD monitor is to off, the less power it should take to display it.  If so, sites that are commonly used as homepages and/or just visited often (e.g. google, facebook), could reduce the energy usage of client machines by using a large percentage of darker pixels (e.g. black background, lighter text).  Considering the amount of client monitors displaying those sites on a daily basis, couldn't this make a significant difference?  background-color: #000; FTW?!
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machrider
On an LCD, black uses the _most_ energy. Granted, it's a miniscule difference.
The backlight is always on, and energy has to be passed through the crystals
to twist them and block the light at the individual pixels, in order to
produce anything other than pure white.

On a CRT, black is probably the greenest color. But in both cases, I suspect
the difference is so small that you wouldn't be able to measure it in pennies
on your electric bill.

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tdedecko
This idea has come up a while ago and has been shot down. Research suggests
that it would not reduce energy consumption. Here is Google's take on it:
[http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/is-black-new-
green.ht...](http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/is-black-new-green.html)

If you feel strongly about it you can always use: <http://www.blackle.com/>

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walkon
Thanks for the links - I had not seen these before.

