Google’s Push into Clean Energy is No Joke

Many people might feel that the company’s effort to rely less on coal is little more than a PR gimmick to show its continued commitment to its unofficial slogan: “Do no evil.” Others may be inclined to share the concerns of the Bear Stearns official who was quoted in yesterday’s New York Times as saying that he was scared that this was yet another example of Google “trying to bite off more than they can chew.” Perhaps still others might concur with the sentiment of an RBC analyst who wondered in the same article if the initiative was “a joke.”

I disagree on both fronts, and I certainly don’t believe the effort is a joke. In fact, I believe the initiative is a solid, strategic move. For starters, Google, like Microsoft and IBM, are spending huge sums of money paying for the electricity necessary to power their massive data centers. If Google can find a way to operate these centers with solar or geothermal power, not only can it cut down on its energy bill it might also end up saving additional money in the event Congress passes some sort of carbon tax or implements a cap-and-trade system to regulate carbon emissions.

Secondly, I like the move because I think it fits nicely with the company’s officially stated goal of delivering information to people everywhere in the world. That goal obviously includes peoples in the remote areas of China, India and Africa; but, to a large degree, many of the people in these regions are still constrained from accessing information due to a lack of reliable energy sources.