That's Google's new formula, which means "electricity from renewable energy sources that will be cheaper than electricity produced from coal." When your stock is trading at around $700/share, I suppose you must feel like a master of the universe:
In 2008, Google expects to spend tens of millions on research and development and related investments in renewable energy. As part of its capital planning process, the company also anticipates investing hundreds of millions of dollars in breakthrough renewable energy projects which generate positive returns.
Not exactly sticking to their knitting, but this make sense to some people:
Leave it to Google to try to tackle an industry as seemingly out of their realm as energy. Of course, Google is a massive power consumer, so the connection is easy to make, and the feel-good Google execs haven’t likely felt right about their data center’s contribution to dirty-power generation. But if Google can actually successfully develop clean energy sources that are cheaper than coal and create a business around licensing them (through their investments or their own technology), it would do nothing short of revolutionizing the energy industry. Much like the situation the telecom world is facing with Google’s wireless plans, here’s to the old-world, slow-moving energy industry getting a kickstart from that 20 percent time!
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1. Posted by hfgsgads on November 28, 2007 @ 6:54 | Permalink
I think this is one of many signals of Google's decline. I'm all for alternative energy, but I just can't imagine that Google will come up with something that's cheaper than fossil fuels--at least, not in the near or mid-to-near term. Almost nothing that Google has done outside of its core competency, search, has panned out. In fact, I'd even argue that its purchase of YouTube will be a big flop. If they can't get video sharing right, why would we think they can solve the world's alternative energy problems?
2. Posted by mmm on November 28, 2007 @ 7:26 | Permalink
In response to hfgsgads, I think that Google is aiming for the star expecting to land on the moon.
To make sense for Google, they don't need to be able to power San Fran (they're goal), they just need to do well enough to reduce their own personal energy costs (they're real goal).
The advantage that Google has, over say other large companies in the automotive and energy industries, is that they they don't have ANYTHING to lose except R&D money. There's no history, there's no sunk costs, there's no risk of internal competition, etc, and there's everything to gain: reduction in their massive energy bills.
As to the other point about failing at everything outside their core competency, I'm not sure how one judges that. Google is a new company, and none of its technologies--not even the search--has been around long enough to judge its staying power. Moreover, even if it's search engine is a "success" by some subjective measure, it was around for several years before it became successful and more than 5 years before it became a household name--youtube.com was more quickly a success by that measure.
I would also point to Google Maps being something outside its "core competency" that has done very well--especially when they were able to connect the results to their search. I love being about to type: "[restaurant type] [city], [state]" in my blackberry and generate maps and directions while i'm traveling.
Nevertheless, unlike those other ventures, reducing energy costs DOES have potential to go directly to the bottom line, whether they're successful at powering all of San Fran or not.
3. Posted by Jake on November 30, 2007 @ 17:40 | Permalink
"Renewable energy." Read literally, the concept runs head on into the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and loses the fight.
Should any readers doubt the point, please forward your credit card numbers so that I may sell you a perpetual motion machine.
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