Earth Equity News

Google Forges Ahead with Renewable Energy Projects. By Miguel Helft, NYTimes, October 27, 2008. "Google... is increasingly looking to the energy sector as a potential business opportunity. From its beginning, the company has invested millions of dollars in making its own power-hungry data centers more efficient. Its philanthropic arm has made small investments in clean energy technologies. But in recent weeks, Eric E. Schmidt, Google's chief executive, has hinted at the company's broad interest in the energy business. He also joined Jeffrey R. Immelt, General Electric's chief executive, to announce that they would collaborate on policies and technologies aimed at improving the electricity grid. The effort could include offering tools for consumers. Meanwhile, engineers at Google are hoping to unveil soon tools that could help consumers make better decisions about their energy use. And while the company's philanthropic unit, Google.org, has invested in clean energy start-ups like one that uses kites to harness wind power, Google is now considering large investments in projects that generate electricity from renewable sources... The timing could be off. With a recession looming and oil prices dropping, investors might pressure Google to curtail its clean energy ambitions. Google's shares have lost more than half their value in the last year, and some analysts complain that the company has a long history of dabbling in new initiatives with mixed results...But none of this has deterred Google from going deeper into the alternative energy business. To support its efforts, it has hired a growing number of engineers who are conducting research in renewable energy, former government energy officials, scientists and even a former NASA astronaut, whose hands-on experience with all sorts of electronic gadgets is being put to use to develop energy tools for consumers."