Google earmarks hundreds of millions for green power

[webbie]

Google also said it expects to spend "tens of millions" during 2008 on research and development and related investments in renewable energy.
Becoming the latest Fortune 500 company to embrace the green movement this year, Google Inc. (GOOG:
said its goal is to produce one gigawatt -- enough to power the City of San Francisco -- of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal. It said it's optimistic this can be achieved "in years, not decades."

http://tinyurl.com/27lwrc

 

[babalu87]

As long as it has NOTHING to do with that mess that is Corn fuel I am all for it.
Do that many people think that a fuel which takes , by many estimates, 1.3 gallons of fossil fuel to make one gallon is really a good idea?

 

[Nofossil]

Way to go, Google! If they can do it, they and their shareholders should be rewarded. Whether their motives are profit or public acclimation, I'm more optimistic about this than about any government effort - the ethanol debacle is a great example of why.

As soon as there are alternatives that are scalable and cheaper than coal, then coal will disappear unless the government steps in to protect all those jobs in coal mining congressional districts.

One really neat thing about the free market is that it provides a great way to determine whether something requires more resources to produce - if it's more expensive, then it requires more resources to produce. This doesn't always work perfectly, and the government can really mess it up with taxes and subsidies, but it's a more efficient and accurate mechanism than anything else I'm aware of.

 

[Mike Wilson]

Thin, cheap solar roofs, and tons of geothermal... bring it on.


-- Mike

 

[WILDSOURDOUGH]

There was something on GeoThermal not working so good for some whole town- somewhere in Europe on NPR last week. I do know it works very well in Iceland.
I'm all for Google trying to find a better way to produce eletricity (energy). You have got to know that indiviuals (and companies) who do their own experimentation are 10x better off that letting the govt. help.
Govt. Help- now that's an oximoron !
Now, I only wish that they would move half the operations to NH- so they don't lose everything when CA breaks off and falls into the ocean.

 

[derbygreg]

As long as it has NOTHING to do with that mess that is Corn fuel I am all for it.
Do that many people think that a fuel which takes , by many estimates, 1.3 gallons of fossil fuel to make one gallon is really a good idea?

Can't agree more on this, my truck is flex fuel. To make using E85 worth while, it must be .75 cents on the dollar to gas. It is always .30 cents less than 87 octain. I ran through a few tanks and it does not have nearly the BTU's and the mileage is bad.

If gas is $3.00 then E85 would have to be $2.25 or less for me to consider using it again.

I really wonder if people actually buy it.