Search engine giant Google has taken a humanitarian stance, unveiling a $4.4 trillion plan to lobby for policy change on alternative energy that calls for clean power by 2030. This implies that all energy in the US would come from renewable sources.
Google has already put up money for start-up companies concentrating on technologies related to wind development, solar and geothermal energy. The "benevolent" arm of Google, Google.org, has invested some $45 million in these companies.
In a company release, Google said, "While this plan will cost $4.4 trillion (in undiscounted 2008 dollars), it will ultimately save $5.4 trillion, delivering a net saving of $1 trillion over the life of the plan".
Chief executive of Google Eric Schmidt announced the plan to help the US eliminate dependence on coal and oil by 2030. The proposal also says that usage of oil in cars should come down by 40 per cent during this period.
The new humanitarian proposal may have a political dimension, in that Schmidt is a business adviser to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
 Denying speculation that Google has some mysterious ulterior motive for this move, Schmidt countered, "Why don't we work on the important problems of the world?" But he added that Google does have a material interest, commenting, “We're going to likely consume more [energy], and we'd like the prices to go down.”
Reports suggest that, as part of the plan, Google will bat for stricter building codes, with wind and solar tax credits and a carbon tax. The group also calls for a national power grid network to give information to householders on energy consumption through household meters.
Schmidt also said companies and research organisations should take advantage of "the apparent willingness of the government to write huge cheques", and that "the government has an opportunity to do a stimulus package, because we're going to be in a recession".
Schmidt also commented on the recent financial debacle in the US, opining that this is an "unconscionable" failure of system design, although he asserted that Google has not been affected in any way.
New renewable energy plan
The three basic elements of the clean energy plan are new transmission lines and policies like a national renewable portfolio standard, new generation vehicles running on non-oil fuels and greater energy efficiency through the installation of smart meters and real-time pricing.
Under the new renewable energy plan, wind power is expected to generate 380GW and solar power 250GW, with geothermal providing 80GW.
To support the generation of renewable energy, Google has called for more than 32,000km of new transmission lines. The search giant foresees 22 million plug-in vehicles by 2030, which would place US in a better position in the energy sector. Vehicle makers will have to ensure better fuel efficiency at 72km per gallon by 2030. X |