Google's Stunning New Initiative: Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal

Posted by: "Felix Kramer" fkramer@calcars.org felixkramery
Tue Nov 27, 2007 1:25 pm (PST)

"Google.com and Google.org have just announced one of the most promising new initiatives to address the global climate crisis. I hope the grandchildren of today's adults will someday look back and say this was a turning point in commercializing the cleaner/cheaper energy solutions that saved our world."
-- Felix Kramer, Founder, CalCars.org

Google.com founded the Google Foundation in 2005, and then established Google.org, with 1% of the company's original equity and 1% of profits. Google.org, which can both invest and donate, is focusing initially on:
# Climate change
# Public health
# Global development

As CalCars-News readers know, Google.org's first project in Climate change is RechargeIT, launched in June 2006 to promote PHEVs and V2G technologies. The program included a PHEV fleet, grants to several organizations including CalCars and a $10M investment program: of 350 companies responding to the Request for Proposals, 40 are now in the second round. At the same time, the company launched initiatives for efficiency in computing operations, solar power and other measures to "green" its facilities.

Now both Google.com and Google.org take the next step -- and it's potentially of far greater significance. If we take as a given that we will increasingly electrify not only vehicles but everything that directly uses fossil fuels, at the same time as we improve efficiency throughout the global economy, the arrow points to cleaning the grid as the necessary corollary.

The next step is called "RE<C," meaning "Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal." This is the ultimate challenge. NYTimes columnist Tom Friedman and others have said that renewable energy won't succeed until it meets the "China price" -- that is, until it's cost-competitive with coal in China (and also in India and globally). Once this happens, it's no longer a question of moral appeals to "do the right thing," but instead to do what pays.

Getting to the point where renewable energy can win in the marketplace involves both business and political strategies. We know there's no level playing field in the marketplace. Over a century, the priorities, resources, incentives, loan guarantees, infrastructure support and straight-out subsidies have gone overwhelmingly to "big carbon" -- oil, natural gas and coal (along with massive support and insurance programs to fund nuclear power). The process of changing those priorities (and the research, development and demonstration programs of the Department of Energy (DOE) that follow them), continues in fits and starts.

Now we're seeing a second wave in which new technologies finally have the potential to challenge fossil fuels. That's what this RE<C Google.org Google.com being smart about how each of them fits together in this new program.

Of course, Google isn't the only player in this area: corporate and venture capital investment in CleanTech is expanding at a breakneck pace. Just as we think there's nothing better or plug-in cars than helping to encourage the start of the Great Automotive Race of the 21st Century, we're hoping that Google's new program will not only succeed on its own but will catalyze new waves of innovation globally.

Below we reprint on one convenient page four Google pages:
RE<C Website
FAQ
Press release
Jobs announcement

1. RE<C http://www.google.com/corporate/green/energy/index.html

Clean and affordable energy is a growing need for our company, so we’re excited about launching "RE<C", a strategic initiative whose mission is to develop electricity from renewable sources cheaper than electricity produced from coal. Initially, this project to create renewable energy cheaper than coal will focus on advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, and enhanced geothermal systems ­ but we’ll explore other potential breakthrough technologies too.

We’re busy assembling our own internal research and development group and hiring a team of engineers and energy experts tasked with building 1 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal. (That’s enough electricity to power a city the size of San Francisco.) Google’s R&D effort will begin with a significant effort on solar thermal technology, and will also investigate enhanced geothermal systems and other areas.

Supporting Breakthrough Technologies

In conjunction with the RE<C Google.org will make strategic grants and investments in organizations working to produce renewable energy at a cost below that of coal-fired power plants.

Google.org is already working with two innovative corporations who are building potentially breakthrough technologies, and we look forward to collaborating with other members of the renewable energy field, including companies, R&D laboratories, and universities.

* eSolar Inc. specializes in solar thermal power. Solar thermal technology replaces the fuel in a traditional power plant with heat produced from solar energy, and has great potential to produce utility-scale power that is cheaper than coal.

* Makani Power Inc. is developing high-altitude wind energy extraction technologies aimed at harnessing the world’s most powerful wind resources. Capturing just a fraction of available high-energy wind would be sufficient to supply current global electricity needs.

Google's Green Commitment

This current initiative is just the next step in Google’s continuing commitment to a clean and green energy future. We have been working hard on energy efficiency and making our business environmentally sustainable.

Last spring we announced that we would be carbon neutral for 2007 and beyond, and we’re on track to meet this goal. We’ve taken concrete steps to reduce our carbon footprint and accelerate improvements in green technology. For example, through design improvements and the adoption of power-saving technologies, such as evaporative cooling, we have made great strides to bolster the efficiency of our data centers ­ the facilities that store the computers that enable Google to deliver accurate search results at lightning speed. We’ve also reduced the carbon footprint of our building and office operations - for example, by replacing incandescent bulbs with higher-efficiency lighting, and maximizing the use of natural light. And earlier this year we flipped the switch at our Mountain View headquarters on one of the largest corporate solar panel installations in the United States.

In addition to “greening” our own business, we’re also cooperating with members of the tech community to improve efficiency on a broader scale. In 2007, we teamed with Intel and other industry partners to form the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a group which advocates the design and adoption of less wasteful computing infrastructure. (In November 2007, CSCI achieved a new milestone when we signed on our very first public sector partners, the state governments of Minnesota and Kansas.)

Got questions? We’ve got answers.

For more details on Google’s continuing commitment to a clean energy future, please see our FAQs page.

And for broadcast-standard video and other multimedia files related to our announcement of RE<C, http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/index.html

FAQs
http://www.google.com/corporate/green/energy/faq.html

Why is Google so interested in renewable energy? In 2006, non-hydro renewable energy sources supplied less than 2% of the world’s energy consumption, in part because of the relatively high cost of production. Renewable energy isn’t as cost-competitive or widely available as fossil fuels, so Google (and most of the rest of the world) must rely on carbon-based power sources of electricity.

A number of organizations are working to bring down the price of renewable energy to be cost-competitive with coal. Google wants to apply our capital and engineering skills to join this important endeavor.
Why the goal of 1 gigawatt of energy? Is that how much power Google needs? This initiative is not just about creating clean, affordable electricity for Google - though we are keenly interested in making our business as environmentally sustainable as possible. If successful, this effort would likely provide a path to replacing a substantial portion of the world’s electricity needs with renewable energy sources. We want to do our part, but that won’t be enough alone to thwart climate change; we need a worldwide green electricity revolution to do that.

Why is Google focusing its R&D on solar thermal technology? Solar thermal systems convert heat from the sun into steam that powers electric generators. And solar thermal plants are efficient ­ they naturally generate the most power during the peak electricity demand periods of the summer months. Google believes that solar thermal technology has strong potential to produce utility-scale power at low cost.

What has prompted your collaboration with eSolar? eSolar is working to develop solar thermal technology based on super-efficient design and a large enough scale to compete in the market with carbon-based electricity like coal. We believe that eSolar's approach has great potential to produce utility-scale power cheaper than coal. Read more about eSolar’s technology at http://www.esolar.com/.

What is high-altitude wind power all about? There is enough available wind energy to power the world's current energy needs. If we can tap into this vast energy source - particularly powerful high-altitude winds - we can power the globe.What made you decide to invest in Makani Power? Makani Power is led by an incredible team which includes MacArthur award winner Saul Griffith, PhD and Don Montague, the “father of kite surfing.” We are pleased with the progress they have made and look forward to ongoing collaboration. Read more about Makani Power at http://www.makanipower.com/.

What is “enhanced” geothermal technology? The heat stored deep beneath the surface of the earth is potentially a vast resource of widely available renewable energy. Tapping the earth's heat through the use of "Enhanced Geothermal Systems" (EGS) is historically under-funded and only a handful of projects exist. Google plans to accelerate the development and adoption of this promising technology.The earth's enormous resource of geologically stored heat is available anywhere. EGS uses advanced heat mining technology to extract energy from the earth's crust beyond the limitations of conventional geothermal systems. Since conventional geothermal systems require the pre-existing combination of high heat, steam or water, and permeable rock -- a combination limited in nature -- the potential for conventional geothermal energy to be a major portion of our energy mix is somewhat limited. EGS, however, overcomes the limitations of conventional geothermal systems by replicating the required conditions through geo-engineering. EGS would therefore unlock the much greater geothermal potential of heat stored in deep hot dry rocks.

Why geothermal? EGS has the potential to provide baseload power cheaper than coal, could conceivably be deployed almost anywhere, and is essentially limitless in supply. Most importantly, EGS has a relatively small footprint and virtually no greenhouse gas emissions. EGS development has been limited mostly by the lack of research interest and commercialization funding - not technology. According to a recent report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) while further advances are needed, none of the known technical and economic barriers limiting widespread development of EGS are considered to be insurmountable. For more information, please see http://geothermal.inel.gov/publications/future_of_geothermal_energy.pdf

PRESS RELEASE
Google's Goal: Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal
http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/20071127_green.html

--Felix Kramer fkramer@calcars.org
Founder California Cars Initiative
http://www.calcars.org
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