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Tag: Google Green

  • Google Touts Its Green Tech in “Story of Send”

    If you’ve ever wondered how your email gets from your computer to another inbox, you’re in luck. Google has created a simplistic video showing the basics of how email sent from Gmail travels to its destination. The video is more about how Google has taken extreme measures to lower its impact on the environment, especially at its data centers. There is also an interactive website where you can follow an email’s path, bit by bit, and click on photos and video describing Google’s green tech. The whole project has been dubbed the “Story of Send.”

    Erin Reilly, a member of the Google Green team, posted the video over on the Official Google Blog, where she touts Google’s commitment to mitigating environmental impact and describes the “Story of Send” interactive website. From the blog post:

    We’ve included videos and photos throughout the journey so you can explore certain areas more deeply. For example, if you’re curious what data center servers look like, we’ve included some photos. Or you can watch a video to learn about how we purchase clean energy from wind farms near our data centers. And because technology doesn’t always have to be serious, you might find a vampire or two lurking around or uncover other surprises on the journey.

    Google has evidently gone to great lengths to make sure it limits its impact on the environment. In the “Story of Send” video, Google claims that its data centers use 50% less energy than a “typical” data center. The company also uses “natural” methods to cool servers and, when possible, it purchases electricity from wind farms near data centers. Google also makes the bold claim that, “we are the only internet company to have eliminated our impact on climate change since 2007.”

  • Google Shines Solar Power On Homeowners

    Perhaps the “G” in “Google” should stand for “green” because it’s clear the company is a big supporter of the environmental movement. The Google Green site/FAQ is an obvious indicator of said support. More recently, news about one of Google’s latest investments demonstrates the commitment. This time, however, in a more specific manner, as opposed to simply issuing a manifesto of the company’s goals.

    Another way to look at it, now that Google has functional maps of the world, the oceans, the moon and the stars, they are turning their attention to harnessing the power of the most prominent star in our collective lives, the Death Star the sun, of course. No, Google isn’t buying Britain’s ever-popular gossip mag/newspaper, although, the contextual ads for Page 3 would be fun. Instead, Google is investing in a company that specializes in harnessing the power of the sun, as they further the drive to reduce the footprint, as well as the cost of living, for homeowners who are actively seeking alternate methods of providing power to their dwelling.

    To facilitate the push for cleaner energy, Google has partnered with SolarCity, a company that, like the name suggests, focuses on bringing solar power to the people. Google’s contribution comes in the way of financial support, to the tune of $280 million. For comparison’s sake, President Obama pledged $250 million to the smart grid project, 30 million less than Google’s investment into solar power. Do with that knowledge what you will.

    Google’s blog entry has more on their partnership with SolarCity:

    Today, we’re announcing that we’ve investing $280 million to create a fund that will help SolarCity finance more solar installations across the country. This is our largest clean energy project investment to date and brings our total invested in the clean energy sector to more than $680 million. We’ve also launched a partnership to offer SolarCity services to Googlers at a discount.

    A Google engineer, Michael Flaster, was apparently the inspiration for Google’s interest into SolarCity. According to the information provided, Flaster, an active solar power user/SolarCity customer, stands to save $100 a month on his energy bills. Over the life of Flaster’s lease of SolarCity’s equipment, he could save an estimated $16,000, an idea I’m sure most homeowners would get behind.

    As indicated, SolarCity offers an equipment leasing program, of which, Google has more details:

    In SolarCity’s innovative financing model, the company covers installation and maintenance of the system over the life of the lease. You can prepay, or pay nothing upfront after which you make monthly solar lease payments.

    There’s also a promotional video leading this post, highlighting some of the benefits of solar energy. Does anyone think it’s telling that Google invested more in this particular project than the U.S. Government did in updating the country’s aging energy grid?