# Google Turned off the lights! \[Earth Hour\] **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 29, 2008, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177 "2008-03-29T16:47:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/1 "2008-03-29T16:47:29Z")
As you may or may not not at 8:00-9:00 p.m. local time, people are being encouraged to turn off their lights for earth hour. It is to promote energy conservation. Major cities around the globe will be participating. Will you? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/2 "2008-03-29T16:50:05Z")
I thought it was just google UK ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/3 "2008-03-29T16:59:02Z")
As [Tel-Aviv observed Earth Hour on Thursday](http://www.earthhour.org/cities/tel-aviv) evening (instead of Saturday,) I already did participate šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/4 "2008-03-29T17:02:05Z")
Ironically, black pixels use up more power then white on LCD screens, so google is burning extra energy by changing their background color (though I realize directly conserving power is not the point of changing their background) ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/5 "2008-03-29T17:14:34Z")
No, I wonā€™t be participating. During that time frame Iā€™m going to be on the road driving parents home from the airport. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/6 "2008-03-29T17:47:32Z")
I didnā€™t know about this (the google.ca/firefox home page is still whiteā€¦ looks like someone at Google forgot to check that one!). Itā€™s an interesting ideaā€¦ if we remember to (or if weā€™re even here) weā€™ll do it. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/7 "2008-03-29T18:21:21Z")
No. Itā€™s all of 27F right now at 2pm. The thought of sitting in the dark **too** tonight, does not appeal. At least with the TV or music on I canā€™t hear the howling of the wind outsideā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/8 "2008-03-29T22:50:12Z")
Yeah, that whole 8-9pm thing is a bit suspect. If it were an hour earlier, Iā€™d be happy to go sit outside and watch the sunset, but why would I sit in the dark for an hour? Seems to me that if they really want to make an impact, they would set it for a time when one could make a habit of it. But Iā€™m not going to make a habit of turning off my lights every night and sitting in the dark for an hour. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/9 "2008-03-29T23:49:31Z")
[QUOTE=Qwisp] As you may or may not not at 8:00-9:00 p.m. local time, people are being encouraged to turn off their lights for earth hour. It is to promote energy conservation. Major cities around the globe will be participating. Will you? [/QUOTE] [Time.gov](http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?Eastern/d/-5/java) will show the region of the world in sunlight/dark. I wonder if this will show up on those satelite pictures of the US. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/10 "2008-03-30T01:50:34Z")
Edited thread title to make subject clearer. Colibri ---
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/11 "2008-03-30T01:57:40Z")
This would be more effective during peak usage hours. Open the blinds and turn off the fluorescents! ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/12 "2008-03-30T02:37:47Z")
I wish I had known about it in time. I tried clicking on the scrolling headlines and it shut me down. I should have taken the hint, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/13 "2008-03-30T03:17:12Z")
I was going to do Earth Hour, but my husband just got home after being up since 5:30 p.m. and he needs to eat. And watch some t.v. ā˜¹ I canā€™t really blame him, heā€™s tired and hungry and just wants to relax. He did offer to eat at 9:00 p.m. but I just couldnā€™t do it to him. Maybe next yearā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/14 "2008-03-30T03:17:32Z")
[QUOTE=Simplicio] Ironically, black pixels use up more power then white on LCD screens, so google is burning extra energy by changing their background color (though I realize directly conserving power is not the point of changing their background) [/QUOTE] thaā€™s funny. I shut my browser down because I thought there was something wrong with it when I clicked on Google. Took me a minute to figure out it was intentional. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/15 "2008-03-30T05:48:35Z")
[QUOTE=Simplicio] Ironically, black pixels use up more power then white on LCD screens, so google is burning extra energy by changing their background color (though I realize directly conserving power is not the point of changing their background) [/QUOTE] So did they, BTW ā€“ no point linking to anything, Iā€™m afraid, but at least the [Google.uk](http://Google.uk) page **did** state that they realize making their home page black wouldnā€™t save any energy, and that the reason they did it was **only** awareness. ---
**Author:** ![Red1980](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@Red1980](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red1980)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/16 "2008-03-30T06:08:35Z")
[QUOTE=elfkin477] No. Itā€™s all of 27F right now at 2pm. The thought of sitting in the dark **too** tonight, does not appeal. At least with the TV or music on I canā€™t hear the howling of the wind outsideā€¦ [/QUOTE] You ARE kidding right? Just because itā€™s cold outside doesnā€™t mean you should waste power inside. If you want to have the TV or radio on, fair enough, but make sure everything else that is not necessary to leave on isnā€™t on. At least during this one hour. Although I suppose itā€™s too late now. Nooneā€™s asking you to turn off your heat. In fact, that might even be counter productive as it might take more energy to heat a cold home back up than it would to just keep it warm (I donā€™t really know.). ā€œItā€™s cold outside and I donā€™t want to hear the howling wind outsideā€ is no excuse. Thatā€™s the attitude thatā€™s put us where we are right now. ---
**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/17 "2008-03-30T06:43:02Z")
Now that Googleā€™s gone back to the white, is there any way to set it back to the black scheme? I liked the way it looked. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/18 "2008-03-30T09:04:38Z")
This is so funny to meā€¦ Today, of all days on a Saturday, I had to give a presentation to new college students and went to the computer to find something on Google. It had a black screen. I mentioned to the students that I had never seen THAT before and they all agreed it was something they too had never seen before, but still, kinda cool. Should have considered there was a reason for it, but was in a rush to find what I was Googling. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/19 "2008-03-30T11:32:10Z")
And what does it achieve? How do you store electricity? ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177/20 "2008-03-30T22:18:49Z")
[QUOTE=Cicero] And what does it achieve? How do you store electricity? [/QUOTE] Itā€™s ā€œpromoting awarenessā€ I guess they hope the next morning weā€™ll all be saying ā€œWe should save electric? When did this happen?ā€ :rolleyes: However it is a great way for people to feel good about themselves, let off some guilt and berate others for not taking part. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-turned-off-the-lights-earth-hour/443177.md?page=2)