Google search for cleaner energy unveiled
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Google aims to do for the power grid what it did for the Web.
The company, which conquered the market for Web search by first simplifying how it is done and then making sales of related advertising more efficient, is funding green technology and using its brand power to lobby for policy change.
Through its philanthropic arm Google.org, the company is backing startups designing wind, solar and geothermal technologies, which it hopes will eventually be cheaper than coal. Google invested $45 million in such companies this year.
"But that is a drop when we need a flood," Google Inc (GOOG.O) wrote on Wednesday on its official blog, here
Google wants the United States to wean itself off burning coal and oil for power by 2030, and cut oil use for cars by 40 percent. It admits that doing so will cost trillions of dollars over two decades, but says it would save money in the end.
Since it uses huge amounts of power to run its data centers, Google is also improving the efficiency of both server computers and the huge buildings that house them. Google said it identified $5 million in building efficiency investments which will pay for themselves in two and a half years.
New efficiency standards for servers and personal computers alone could cut energy consumption by the equivalent of 10 to 20 coal-fired power plants by 2010, Google said.
Calls for energy efficiency, once heard largely from environmentalists, now resonate with voters and businesses unlike never before, especially with oil shooting past more than $100 a barrel.
With an eye on next month's U.S. election, Google appealed to the government for stricter building codes, a commitment to wind and solar tax credits that have often lapsed in the past, and a price on carbon through a cap-and-trade system or a tax.
"With a new administration and Congress -- and multiple energy-related imperatives -- this is an opportune, perhaps unprecedented, moment to move from plan to action," Google said.
Echoing calls by both presidential candidates for an upgraded power grid, Google wants to see more smart meters and real-time pricing to let people see how much energy they use and what it costs them. Google recently partnered with General Electric Co (GE.N) to speed up development of grid technology.
At the time of Google's initial public offering in 2004, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin pledged employee time and about 1 percent of Google's equity -- 3 million shares -- plus 1 percent of profits to philanthropy. In 2006, Google converted 300,000 shares into about $90 million to set up Google.org.
The fact that it is a small percentage of Google's $4 billion-plus 2007 profit has led some critics to wonder whether it is little more than a publicity stunt. (Reporting by Braden Reddall; Editing by Bernard Orr)
