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Google’s drive for clean future
Google
is backing fuel-efficient, hybrid cars as part of a plan to make the
entire firm carbon neutral by 2008.The company’s philanthropic arm,
Google.org, will give $1m in grants to encourage the adoption of
hybrids.It has pledged a further $10m to help commercialise plug-in
hybrids and fully electric vehicles.”We believe our support can
stimulate public consumption,” said Urs Hoelzle, Google’s operations
senior vice president.”These types of cars could make a big difference
in how much carbon they produce,” he added.Power producer
The
firm said the hybrid vehicles produced 65% fewer CO2 emissions than the
average car in Europe.Google’s own fleet will be converted to hybrid
technology and the firm will look for grant proposals to promote
further use of fuel-efficient cars later in the year.Google said it was
investing in renewable energy sources and offsetting emissions that
could not be eliminated directly, in order to go carbon neutral.The US
web giant announced it had finished phase one of a 1.6-megawatt solar
panel system at its headquarters in Mountain View, California.It will
provide almost a third of the HQ’s energy needs. The firm has also
committed to creating an additional 50 megawatts of renewable energy by
2012 – enough to power 50,000 homes.Google said it would employ data
centres that used less than half the energy of standard industry data
centres.
Independent check
Mr
Hoelzle added: “We don’t just want to be carbon neutral. Hopefully, we
will have a positive impact on the larger environment.”We want to first
take care of our own energy efficiency and renewable energy, but also
to reach to the world as whole.”We want to make computers more
effective, through the Climate Savers Computing Initiative (CSCI) and
working with environmentalists and policy makers.”Google co-founded the
CSCI as an industry initiative to increase computer efficiency and cut
carbon emissions by 54 million tonnes by 2010; and has joined a lobby
organisation, the Climate Group.Google will not reveal the size of its
carbon footprint. However, it says the footprint will be independently
verified.Mr Hoelzle said: “I don’t think we will publish absolute
numbers – we are still in heavy competition with other companies, and
as an internet company your infrastructure that runs services is one of
the key weapons you have.”None of our competitors has released numbers.
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