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Save Energy - do the green thing.

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britinusa
Web Editor

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5404 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/16/2009 : 06:52:09

Now that many of you have your boats out for the winter, you are probaly surfing the net just a bit more.

Well, you can save energy doing that!

Google has released an energy saving version of 'google.com'

You'll find it at http://www.blackle.com

With the millions of uses on Google everyday, even a small amount of energy savings will equate to a huge global saving!

Go Blackle.com

Paul

Joint Decision. (Sold)
PO C250WB 2005 Sail # 841.

Moved up to C34 Eximius

Updated August 2015

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 10/16/2009 : 07:31:53

Interesting... but Google didn't release it--Heap Media did. Too bad I rarely use Google's home page--I use Chrome. Maybe I should unscrew the bulb in my fridge.

How bout going black here?

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 10/16/2009 07:37:48

piseas
Former Treasurer

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2017 Posts

Response Posted - 10/16/2009 : 09:04:40

Paul, intriguing idea. Is there truth to that? I am already a big "Green Guy" and any new info is appreciated. But aren't most of us green? That's why we have sailboats, right!
Steve A

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OLarryR
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3467 Posts

Response Posted - 10/16/2009 : 09:06:44

Related to green and refrig but not related to sailing:

I was curious as to electricity used by appliances - mainly an old non-frostfree freezer (Norge) we have in the garage. I have oftentimes read that a new refrigerator is way more efficient these days compared to one that is about 8 years old, nevermind my old one that dates back to 1978/80. So, I bought one of those Kill-A-Watt untis that indicates wattage used and also avergaes it out during the time it is hooked up to your appliance. I found that in the middle of summer with temps around 90F and probably not much cooler than that in my gagrage, this old freezer uses only slightly more than a lightbulb (ie. 60-75 watts) to run. So....kind of does not justify replacing it.

Edited by - on

Voyager
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5379 Posts

Response Posted - 10/16/2009 : 09:36:27

OT but helpful . . .
Couple of great places to save KW is on:
1. Unplug all your battery chargers whenever you're not using them
2. Put your entertainment unit (TV, cable/sat box, audio) on a surge suppressor power strip with a switch, and power them down when you're not watching/listening.
3. If you have a desktop computer, let it hibernate or standby when not in use. If you use a laptop do the same and unplug the AC adaptor when off.
4. Switch out those old incandescents. WM offers the cheapest CFLs and dimmables, and they are starting to offer spots and floods using LEDs.
5. Pull the plug on the 2nd fridge, wine cooler or icemaker.
6. Install an attic fan on a thermostat, so when it gets really hot up there, you can cool it off. Saves your AC bill.
7. Turn down your hot water temp.

I have reduced my power usage by 30% year-to-year in the past three years doing this.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 10/16/2009 : 11:12:31

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Voyager
 ...WM offers the cheapest CFLs and dimmables, and they are starting to offer spots and floods using LEDs...<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">"W(est) M(arine) offers the cheapest..."

(Then I figured it out... But this is, after all, a sailing site.)

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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4479 Posts

Response Posted - 10/16/2009 : 15:25:31

So we use exclusively LCD monitors, is there really any savings in a black screen compared to any other color? Doesn't the LCD still have to send "black" as opposed to the grayish color an LCD is normally when it's off? I don't think so, but I'm willing to be told otherwise (I'll ask around here too, we have LOTS of video engineers here).

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 10/16/2009 : 16:12:33

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by delliottg
 ...Doesn't the LCD still have to send "black" as opposed to the grayish color an LCD is normally when it's off?...<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I'm no video engineer, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night...

Actually, I did some Googling and came to this understanding: An LCD makes its colors by polarizing the backlight (or ambient light) at each pixel. That polarizing process, for black, simply blocks the light from the pixel. The backlight is constant regardless of what each pixel is doing with it. Thus, the only way to reduce your power consumption with an LCD is to turn down (or off) the backlight, or turn off the display. I suspect the same is true with a CRT, which has a scanning ray that excites combinations of phosphors in each pixel. I'm not sure that black takes less power in that case, either, but I haven't found anything on that.

Net: Nice try, Blackle, but probably no watt-hours saved. My question to them is "Why the hoax?"

Edit: From the Cal-Berkeley study referenced by Blackle:
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Among the few LCD monitors in the table, the
power used to display a white screen is indistinguishable from power used to display the desktop. Thus, it
appears that display color is a significant determinant of on power for CRTs, but not for LCDs.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
I don't know about anyone else, but my CRT monster went to the computer recycler years ago.

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 10/16/2009 16:36:02

Nautiduck
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Response Posted - 10/16/2009 : 19:53:41

The energy I am most interested in saving is my own.

I just polished the boat today with Star-Brite Boat Polish. Incredible result with much less effort than waxing. I am rapidly becoming a Star-Brite fanatic - Deck Cleaner, Hull Cleaner, Boat Polish. Every one of these products works extremely well and with minimum work.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 10/16/2009 : 20:58:56

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Nautiduck
 ...I just polished the boat today with Star-Brite Boat Polish. Incredible result with much less effort than waxing. I am rapidly becoming a Star-Brite fanatic - Deck Cleaner, Hull Cleaner, Boat Polish. Every one of these products works extremely well and with minimum work.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I think I gave a plug for their PTEF polish--either theirs or WM's, which is theirs. I am very impressed with its durability--way beyond paste wax, IMHO, and infinitely easier to apply.

Edited by - on

Voyager
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Response Posted - 10/16/2009 : 22:03:13

I like the Star Brite products myself, and go to West Marine or Boaters World to buy them. (Not the other W*M).

Oddly, I really am a video engineer (actually a television engineer), and I concur with the consensus that LCDs don't save much power when displaying black because the polarizing current needed in an LCD is very tiny. The difference between full on and full off is milliwatts.

On the other hand, color CRTs have three electron guns (Red, Blue and Green) to create light on the phospors of the shadow mask screen, so if they create black only, the guns are completely off. Now that saves some power, but read on....

However, if the program needs to create white borders or letters to contrast with the black (because you can't see anything if everything is the same color and intensity), then you need to turn on all three guns (3X the power of a single gun) to get white on the screen.

You could argue that green letters and graphics on a black background would save the most energy, because you'd have large areas of black. And since the eye is naturally most sensitive to green, you don't need to drive the gun very hard to produce sufficient light to produce good viewing.

But, CRTs are in and of themselves very power hungry because in order to run an electron gun, you always need to run a heater coil in the electron tube in order to operate the CRT, even while idling in black. Like the LCD, it's always burning power whether there is a picture on the screen or not.

Furthermore, LCDs typically use fluorescent lamps while CRTs use the equivalent of an incandescent lamp to power the unit. Looks like LCDs may be "greener" than CRTs just by their design.

Of course, some large screen LCDs use UHP lamps to produce the light on the screen. These typically draw around 100-150 Watts, but some larger screens require 250W UHP bulbs. Not eco-friendly I'm afraid..... but you probably would not be using your large screen LCD projector TV for googling.

Edited by - on

Nautiduck
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Response Posted - 10/17/2009 : 08:39:43

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Dave Bristle
 <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Nautiduck
 ...I just polished the boat today with Star-Brite Boat Polish. Incredible result with much less effort than waxing. I am rapidly becoming a Star-Brite fanatic - Deck Cleaner, Hull Cleaner, Boat Polish. Every one of these products works extremely well and with minimum work.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I think I gave a plug for their PTEF polish--either theirs or WM's, which is theirs. I am very impressed with its durability--way beyond paste wax, IMHO, and infinitely easier to apply.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
You did indeed put in a plug for their PTEF boat polish which is why I tried it. Incredible product. I used to use 3M paste wax. It was a long and laborious job. The Star-Brite Boat Polish took 2 hours start to finish and the boat looks great.

Edited by - Nautiduck on 10/17/2009 08:43:00

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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Response Posted - 10/17/2009 : 10:36:38

I'm heading to Fisheries supply today, and I think I'll pick up some of the Star Brite PTEF polish & cleaner, SL needs a good scrub after a season.

Bruce,
Thanks for your input, I talked to some of the guys from my shop last night, and learned about green being the easiest to see, which I hadn't known before. They concur with everything you said, especially about keeping the guns warm on a CRT.

How do plasma TV's compare? We've got a 42" and I've wondered about it's draw.

I also need to go around the house & remove all the "vampire" loads, various chargers that are plugged in and on all the time. Dunno if I can get the 30% you're talking about, but I'll bet I can reduce it some. I know I've got probably half a dozen chargers running constantly just in my garage. Easy enough to put them on a power strip that I can turn off when I don't have a battery charging.

Edited by - delliottg on 10/17/2009 10:43:01

Dave Bristle
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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 10/17/2009 : 11:40:54

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by delliottg
 How do plasma TV's compare?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">The last time I looked into that, plasmas drew a little less than double LCDs--something like 400 watts for a plasma compared to something like 230 for an equivalent LCD.

Edited by - on

delliottg
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Response Posted - 10/20/2009 : 12:10:01

We're gonna find out...

Just ordered a [url="http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&cat=1,43456,64245&p=64245"]Kill-a-watt from Lee Valley[/url]. They've got a special deal going for $20 which is pretty cheap (half price).

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piseas
Former Treasurer

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Response Posted - 10/20/2009 : 15:32:30

David, Please let me know as well. I have a 42 and 55" plasma and a 32"lcd. I have 3 laptops and a 2 story house. My wife and I now only occupy it as kids moved out. Oh and I have a bunch on equipment attached to all the TV's from Nielsen Ratings. Our monthly electric bill is under $100 but think about $20 is the the Nielsen equipment.
So I really wonder if Plasma uses 40% more. I would love to hear what you find out.
Steve A

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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Response Posted - 10/20/2009 : 16:16:15

Well, I can only give you the plasma usage, I don't have any LCD screens that aren't hooked up to laptops (of which I have about 5, but only two in constant use) to compare with. I do have an old CRT style TV in our guest room, but it almost never gets used unless one of us is sick & staying in that room, or we have guests.

I'm more interested in vampire loads (chargers running 24/7 when they don't have to), and an old freezer I've got in the garage.

For $20 + shipping you can find out for yourself!

Edited by - on

Voyager
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Response Posted - 10/20/2009 : 17:49:19

Also, check your entertainment center. The DVD player, CD player, MP3 player, cable set top box, TV screen, audio control center, amplifier, even when they are only in standby can take as much as 10-15 Amps!

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