Part of the Republican mantra is that government shouldn’t be empowered to do anything, it should be left to private corporations. This, of course, is often a bad idea since corporations are there to enrich themselves rather than mankind. So what does it mean that Google is stepping up to the plate because our oil-soaked government won’t?
Google Inc. said it is earmarking hundreds of millions of dollars in developing renewable energy, as part of an ambitious plan to clean the environment by reducing the world’s dependency on coal.
The Mountain View Internet titan said Tuesday that it will open its deep pockets to foster innovation in solar, wind, and geothermal power, with the hope that green energy becomes a cheaper way to generate electricity.
As part of the initiative, Google said that it will invest tens of millions of dollars in renewable energy, spread over research and development and related investments, in 2008.
“Solar isn’t currently cheaper than coal,” Larry Page, Google’s co-founder said in a conference call. “That’s the point of this – to get it there.”
Google, which dubbed the project “Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal,” stands to benefit from cheaper electricity by reducing the costs of running of its vast data centers, which suck up large amounts of energy. Executives declined to discuss the exact amount electricity used in the facilities.
Google also hopes to license any technology spawned from the project to other companies so that they too can reduce their reliance of more polluting forms of energy while saving money. Google raised the possibility that it will collect licensing, but co-founder Sergey Brin insisted that the goal isn’t to rake in big profits.
In unveiling its plan, Google joins a number of companies and investors focused on the clean energy industry, an area that is getting increasing attention amid high energy costs and fears of global warming. Whether Google will do anything different from what already exists is unclear because the company gave few specifics about its strategy.
In general, Google said it will make investments and give grants to projects that show promise in developing energy at a cost below coal-fired power plants. Partners will include companies, universities and research and development labs. [SF Chronicle]
Of course, this sort of initiative has specific goals for the corporation: to produce cheaper energy. But isn’t it odd that a Silicon Valley search and advertising company is taking this initiative instead of, say, the Department of Energy? Texaco? Etc.?
Meanwhile, bravo to Google. But I think it is going to take more than “tens of millions.” That’s why governments need to be doing stuff like this.
