Google's 'green' energy plan: Build, learn, expand
Tuesday, Apr 29 2014
Christian Science Monitor
A ravenous consumer of electricity, Google knows it must find a way to become more efficient and cleaner. Hundreds of thousands of its servers are partially dependent on fossil-fueled power. So just as it gained experience constructing and designing large-scale data centers over the years, the global leader in Internet technologies is now applying the same lessons to expand its use of renewable energy.
This past week, Google announced its seventh and biggest “green” investment yet: the purchase of renewable energy certificates from MidAmerican Energy that equate to 407 megawatts of electricity, which increases the amount of renewable energy that it essentially finances by more than 60 percent. Google has also invested $1 billion in hard assets, owning a piece of actual renewable projects.