Green Tech
No Coal for Google
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Written By Sepideh Saremi | November 27, 2007 | Share This
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Google said today it is creating an R&D initiative to, as Larry Page wrote, “Accelerate the pace at which clean energy technologies are developing, so they can rival the economics of coal quickly.” Working via Google.org, the company’s RE<C, or “Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal,” project will pump money into research and hiring energy experts and management (including a Director of Other - a strong contender for best job title ever). This isn’t Google’s first foray into energy, Mashable points out:
This is another project that Google will be spending millions of dollars funding, with its Recharge IT initiative and others having already been launched in the past year. Enough millions to make Al Gore proud. It appears that Google is getting rather impatient with the current state of affairs, and would like the world’s scientists to please hurry up. The good thing about such a high level of funding is of course the ability to allow those working on these efforts to do just that–hurry up.
ZDNet wonders if RE<C will make Google shareholders unhappy, positing that it’s a distraction from the big G’s core business(es):
I hate to be cynical about this–maybe Google does save the world from its power consumption problems. But I can’t help but think Google is a company with too much cash on its hands and is spreading itself too thin. Renewable power is important, but that doesn’t mean an Internet advertising company should be the one developing it.
Considering the brain power and network that Google has at its disposal, this is a smart, benevolent move by Google. We’ll have to see how the market feels in the long-term, but any advancement in renewable energy technology is undoubtedly good for the planet. Just see the Center for Global Development’s Carma site - our clients, who we wrote about here - for all the red dots representing high carbon emissions, and you’ll agree.