It's Getting Easier Being Green

Though Kermit may have said otherwise, times are changing and it is much easier being Green. Goodness, everyone seems to be talking about going green these days. There are Green buildings, Green Halloween, Green Campuses and many others. In fact, if you Google on “Green Initiatives” it will return 464,000 entries and counting.

Just recently I was pointed toward three different Green Search initiatives.



The first was from one of the students in class who posted about Google Greenback Search.

GREENBACK SEARCH

"Greenback Search is powered by Google, so you'll get the same high quality results, but Greenback Search gives back to the environment by purchasing carbon offsets with the revenue it earns”

They do so by donating 50% of their revenues to, and I am paraphrasing, organizations that are dedicated to making it easy and affordable to eliminate climate impact as well as moving more quickly to a clean energy future.

They then informed me that my search benefits would be directed toward CarbonFund.org.

Next up, if you want to simply search for Green information, Green companies and Green architects, then you can try Green Maven.



“Green Maven is your gateway to the Green Web. We're a search engine that focuses on green, conscious, and sustainable websites. Use the search box above to search the green web!”

Powered by sustainablehosting.com and noting kudos from the likes of Times top ten lists, they provide three tools (just to start with) in order to go Green. These tools are a Green search engine, a Green newsreader and a Green directory. There mission is to “grow the green economy by leveraging the power of the collective internet.”

Which brings me to my third example and probably my favorite from a thinking out of the box front. It also is the least likely, in my mind, to catch on as it requires us to darken our outlook, or at least out output.

However, for those who believe in basic black, and want to do their part one starter home page at a time, check out Blackle.

Thank you to tacomachickadee, for bringing this site to my attention.



Blackle believes that “Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black”, which in turn makes it Green.

This is supported with the notation that "Image displayed is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen." Roberson et al, 2002

Blackle was created by Heap Media, which purports to be committed to “developing and growing leading online services with global reach”, as a reminder to us all that even baby steps in our everyday lives can save energy.

They are currently in Beta and are intent on being a Green products and services search.