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Google and Green Energy: Is Google Planning a Monopoly?

11th June 2011, 06:21 am

Google has made an attempt to become conscious of the environment. It has also put in place many policies that should reduce its carbon footprint. Google green is the project which aims to influence people to practice sustainable habits. As a result, Google has invested up to $350 million on renewable energy sources. The Google Energy is a program which will allow Google to enter the energy market as a supplier. Is Google just trying to dominate another market or are there good reasons to support them? A look at some of the projects will shed light in that direction.

Solar Energy with BrightSource in California

Among the energy investments that Google has been involved in, this is the largest. By offering $168 million to BrightSource, they have sponsored the provision of 392 megawatts of clean solar energy. This will effectively double the amount of solar energy being produced by the US. The project is set to last 25 years after the systems are running in 2013. Google claims that the amount of clean energy this will produce will be equivalent to taking 90,000 polluting vehicles off the road.

Wind Energy with Shepherds Flat in Oregon

An additional $100 million has been put into the construction of the largest wind farm in the world. The farm is said to span 30 square miles in Arlington, Oregon in Shepherds Flat. This particular project is expected to produce a hefty sum of 845 megawatts after it is running in 2012. This is the equivalent of fueling 250,000 homes.

What will Google do with all this power?

Being the worlds largest search engine provider has its setbacks. The resources needed to process 20,000 terabytes daily (which Google does) include large server farms and tremendously powerful supercomputers. That is the reason you enjoy billions of search results within nanoseconds. These devices need lots of power to run, so it is only responsible of Google to power itself. The costs involved can greatly be lessened with the investments in greener energy.

The Renewable Energy Certificate (REC)

As many of you may have suspected, Google’s passionate involvement in clean energy will bring it profit. With Google Energy, the corporation has approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to buy and sell energy on the wholesale market. The investments Google has made act as a pre-order for renewable energy and the RECs that come with them. These certificates will allow the company to profit from selling clean energy back into the grid. They will also be able to capitalize on the certificates as well.

These projects are quite opposite to the widespread notion that large corporations only care about their own gain. Google’s involvement in clean energy will surely give it more freedom with energy consumption. The fact that Google plan’s to also take part in the energy market demonstrates Google’s determination to be a relevant influence in as many fields as they can. However, it also show a level of responsibility on their part. Perhaps there determination will cause other large corporations to invest in similar projects. The world needs a big change and fast. So if the big corporations want to effect that change, then we are changing for the better.