Give Your Eyes a Break and Try Blackle

How can a search engine save energy? That was a question that I pondered yesterday when one of my students (Kat) explained to me the idea behind a search engine called Blackle.

It works very much like Google because it was created using a Custom Google Search Engine (I have blogged about this in the past). The search engine serves as a reminder to us all that we all have a part in saving energy, even when searching the Internet!

How does it do this? The majority of the website's screen is black; therefore, it doesn't need a large amount of energy to appear on your screen. Blackle not only saves energy, but could helpful for students who have certain learning or visual disabilities.

Many students struggle with the glare of a white screen on black text. This could be a great alternative to the bright and colorful Google search engine that most of our students use. If you have a learning disability like Dyslexia  a darkened screen may help reduce the shear number of colors on the screen, allowing you to interpret and read information more effectively.

Whether you want to save energy, want an alternative to Google, have a visual disability, or just want to give your eyes a break, give Blackle a try. It's powered by Google anyways!

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