Google Search for Good! Save Energy and Donate for Free While Surfing the Web

by Tristan Jul 10th, 2009
StumbleUpon.com

Bellzar-Custom-Google-Search

I know what you’re thinking. “There’s Blackle and GoodSearch, but one is powered by Google and one by Yahoo! and neither donates to charities and saves energy!” Well there is a new player in town and they are bringing you the great search features of Google coupled with energy efficiency and free donations.

Who is it you ask? It’s Bellzar.

Bellzar launched on June 30th and integrates the power of a custom Google search, black background for saving energy and revenue sharing. Right now, 50% of their revenue goes to charitable donations, but they hope to increase this number as search traffic through Bellzar.com grows.

Sounds fantastic doesn’t it? So, what does Bellzar actually mean and what do they stand for? In their words;

“To begin with, the ‘Bell’ is often seen as a symbol of liberty, and in this case, we wanted to show the liberty and change that could be so easily brought to the world. In Norway, the name ‘Zar’ means a person riding with destiny, just as anyone can make a better destiny for the world we live in, one where giving to charity and causes that can change the world, and saving energy to create a cleaner, healthier planet, is truly as simple as searching the Web.”

In essence, Bellzar combines our freedom of liberty with a destiny that we choose. And it directly correlates with the site’s motto of giving back. By using less energy with each search and supporting nonprofits, Bellzar gives back to mother nature and our society. It is that same simple model of using technology to reach all ends of the Earth that is becoming more common. And just like Better The World and Everywun, Bellzar makes it easy to not only make a difference by using our computer from home or work, but make that difference every single day, effortlessly.

Hope to see you Bellzar-ing!

P.S. Bellzar is looking to partner with more nonprofits to share the wealth. If you think you would be a good match, contact them at BellzarSearch [at] yahoo [dot] com or via @Bellzar on Twitter.

Contributor Profile: Tristan


Tristan is a social change advocate and social media (for good) zealot. He has worked with Ashoka and Best Buy promoting social change and responsibility.
Twitter: @writerpollock

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  • Jonathan
    Probably worth mentioning that flat panel displays (LCDs, etc) use just as much power to put out black screens as white ones. LCDs have a backlight that is always on, and run three colored filters in front of the light. So, no energy savings there at all. CRTs do save a bit of power, but not a whole lot.

    I fear this is one of those consumer facing things that feels good and means nothing, particularly compared to actual high-impact energy saving tactics like living close to where you work; or printing less paper; or hibernating the PC when you leave your desk. But of course, none of those make money for sites like this one (the other 50% of their revenue, no?), so they are rarely talked about.

    Filed under: effective greenwashing, small business edition.
  • Good point Jonathan. LCDs don't make a difference, but CRT (tube) and plasma screens do save energy on a black screen vs white screen basis (see The Black Pixel Project via http://www.socialearth.org/the-black-pixel-proj...).

    You also touched on greenwashing, the act of a for-profit company to make themselves look green when they really aren't. We all should be aware of this, CSR is getting better, but can be deceiving.
  • Joe
    To be perfectly honest, I think it is attitudes like that, (Tristan/Jonathan) that are preventing the world from making innovations like this. Just think, a company that donates at a minumum, 50% of their revenue to charity - and you both manage to find a way to make it wrong. Be happy, its a great thing that we should embrace - dont over analyze! Its a great thing that we should all support!!
  • The points mentioned above are great, love the discussion!

    To me, the objective of the article was to highlight a method which enables individuals to ‘slightly’ modify their daily behaviors which results in an improvement in human and environmental welfare (albeit small improvement). Jonathan- I agree with you that there are other ‘high-impact’ activities which save much more energy, but changing someone’s habits can be incredibly difficult- especially when you are trying to launch an application (Bellzar) which you aim to scale and take mainstream. However, the point of ‘effective greenwashing’ is very subjective, and difficult to substantiate in most cases; especially small businesses.

    Joe- good point, a company which donates 50% of their revenue is very rare, and a great model to study if they can become sustainable.

    Per methods which are ‘high-impact energy savings;’ yet don’t get highlighted, we’ve published a few ways in which individuals can adjust their habits to save energy which do not relate to one specific company:

    http://www.socialearth.org/30-days-tip-8-replac...
    http://www.socialearth.org/30-days-tip-9-plant-...
    http://www.socialearth.org/30-days-tip-6-turn-o...
    http://www.socialearth.org/30-days-tip-4-save-h...

    Cheers,
    Erik
  • Will
    See thats the point, Jonathan especially, you are too fast to down this, this isn't a mainstream world change organization that will feed all the hungry people in the world, its a nice way to easily help out. Every little thing counts, and this being one of them - why not use Bellzar and help them donate? Its just as easy as anything else.

    If your too quick to shoot down easy, simple, and even small changes, what can be done? You need to start somewhere, why not here? I hope you can at least embrace the idea and others like it.
  • this is a good idea, this google custom search so does it have all functions that google.com provides?
  • Sean
    Yup thats what it means, it is a google sponsored search engine so you get all of the results and benefits google gives
  • Solar Battery Chargers is a great way to help save the environment from utilizing the world's best source of energy, the SUN!!! Get one already!
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