google renewables
yesterday abc news was reporting that everyone’s favorite search giant, google, is venturing into the utility business. with a goal of making renewable energy as cheap as coal, google announced they plan in invest hundreds of millions of dollars in research, design, engineering, and implementation of three different renewable systems: solar thermal, geothermal, and high-altitude wind. google’s rationale for the move is two-fold: first, google’s servers use an incredible amount of energy themselves and investing in renewable resources to meet these power demands makes good business sense. second, according to google, they recognize the reality of the seriousness of climate change and they feel that they have both the brain power and the money to change the way we live. regardless of their motivations, a company like this investing heavily in renewable energy research and development is extremely commendable. if google can, in fact, manage to develop technology that reduce the cost of renewable energy into the range of coal it would be a huge positive for the world around us.
