For a long time now, Google has been synonymous with “search”, and in the same vein it is searching for new ways to go green, announcing plans last Wednesday that it aims to wean the US from burning coal and oil for power by 2030. A large feat in itself, but Google have gone a step further in wanting to cut oil use for cars by 40 per cent. With America’s current reliance on fossil fuels, these are big targets that will need a big name company to see them through. Like Google.

Google’s energy plan includes: a commitment to wind and solar tax credits, stricter building codes and a price on carbon through cap-and-trade or taxes. These ideas sound good in environmentalist theory, but on their own, they don’t seem to have any catch phrases to grab the attention of corporate America.

This is where Google mentions something that will be of interest to every CEO out there: reducing cost. The green plan will initially will cost the US trillions of dollars, but Google has calculated that ultimately, money will be saved.

Google’s philanthropic division, Google.org, has invested £25.5 million this year in backing start-up people and companies who design wind, solar and geothermal technologies, which Google projects will one day be cheaper than coal.

“But that is a drop when we need a flood,” Google has admitted in its blog.

The company itself is further improving its servers and buildings and have identified £2.84 million in building efficiency investments which will pay for themselves in just two and a half years. Google also said that new efficiency standards for computers will US cut power consumption by the equivalent of 10 to 20 coal-fired plants by 2010.

Source: New Scientist

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