Google Puts Their Money Where Their Mouth Is: Green Energy

Google announced yesterday that they are investing in green technology in the form of mirror technology for solar thermal plants.  Heliostats are fields of mirrors that heat up a substance to produce steam which turns a turbine to create energy.  The goal of Google’s venture is to cut the cost of these heliostats by “at least a factor of two, ideally a factor three or four.”  The company is looking for a workable solution to test internally within the next two months.

Google is also developing gas turbines that would be powered by solar energy rather than natural gass which would decrease the cost of electricity.  According to Google’s green energy czar Bill Weihl, "In two to three years we could be demonstrating a significant scale pilot system that would generate a lot of power and would be clearly mass manufacturable at a cost that would give us a levelized cost of electricity that would be in the 5 cents or sub 5 cents a kilowatt hour range."

Weihl also stated that there is a lack of companies that have ideas that would be considered breakthroughs in the green technology sector and that “the U.S. government needs to provide more funds to develop ideas at the laboratory stage.” 

Google certainly has the money and the resources to be a strong player in the renewable energy market.  It remains to be seen if this is a mild flirtation or a strong push by the company to diversify in light of the changing “green economy”.