Google Helping America Go Green

Well the last 10 years have been really hard for companies who use energy 24/7. With all the talk about Global Warming, limited resources, and electric bills sky rocketing through the roof, many companies are finding themselves paying way too much for energy. The reason is pretty simple, huge companies like Google, eBay, Yahoo, etc. need energy to have servers running non-stop and air conditioning as well. But not many companies are trying as hard to cut down on energy use as Google. So let me give you a little history about Google going green. In the spring of 2007 Google decided that their headquarters in Mount View, California were going to run on solar power. The project consisted of installing 1.6 megawatts of solar photovoltaic panels and the Google facility consumes as much energy as 3,333 homes in the US. The solar panels will pay off in 6  years and will work for 25 years. But that’s not all Google has done, Google has also has a shuttle to the headquarters which runs on diesel a cleaner alternative to gasoline and Google is giving away $5,000 to each employee that buys a hybrid. Google is also giving away free bikes to encourage employees to ride to work instead of driving and Google is planning on extending this energy plan to their other offices located around the country.

But this all happened in 2007 so let’s go to 2008. Google is practically now as green as can be and now they want to get the government involved so Google came up with a energy plan called “Clean Energy 2030″ this plan will break the bond between US and fossil fuels in 22 years. The energy plan consists of various ways to save energy; renewable wind, geothermal, and solar energy and helping U.S leave coal and oil behind. The plan will cost 4.5 trillion dollars and would pay off in 5.5 trillion dollars. Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt said that the energy plan would create jobs and help the US with its dependence on fossil fuels. Please Comment

“If you follow my reasoning and take advantage of the technological opportunities–and the apparent willingness of the government to write large checks during a crisis–we can do this.”- Eric Schmidt