Robert Scoble, apparently bored tonight in his quiet hotel in Los Angelos prior to the CommunityNext conference, has been Twittering like a madman all evening long. He was the first to discover that Google.com has switched it's homepage from the standard white to an all black background. On the page is the one line: "We've turned out the lights. Now it's your turn," with a link to a description of "Earth Hour."
While I've been highly critical of a lot of green initiatives as ultimately wasteful and pointless from time to time, this is one of those feel good moves by Google that might actually have an impact. So much of what passes for GreenTech these days is simply creative tax sheltering or innovative ways to institute redistribution of wealth (or in some cases, just out-and-out fraud that plays on people's desires to better the earth). Urging folks to simply turn out the lights in an effort to voluntarily brown out for a bit is certainly a move that will raise awareness about energy efficiency.