Black screens save power?

Onebluesphere is a blog, so the single most essential tool you need to see its content is a computer. Whenever we use computers, we use some form of visual display units such as conventional CRT monitors, TFT screens, the more recent flat screen LCDs etc. The most elementary idea behind images displayed on such devices is that of light emitting from the many pixels on the screen and creating forms and shapes. Now, light emission naturally requires energy, and its easy to see how more light equals more energy. Bright white images consume a greater quantum of energy than dimmer or darker ones. So, in comparison, a black screen should consume less power than a white one. This view has been held for quite some time, leading to people being urged to switch to softwares and applications that use dark or black displays as opposed to white ones. The webspace is rife with a debate on this, as many webpages are predominantly white, thus supposedly consuming more enrgy. Recently, Google, the "whitest" of all the search engines, has come out with a report stating that the opposite may infact be true for LCDs, which already dominates the VDU market.

It remains to be seen which side is correct, but till there is an absolute undisputed winner, all you user out there who are still hooked to the old fashioned CRT monitors, would be wise to know a bit more about how you can use dark screens to save power. You may try blackle.com (which uses Google's search engine) to do your searches while surfing the net, thus combining the ease and familiarity of a Google search with saving energy. You may just find it to be a refreshingly different experience.