Google is a company that is known for making big impressions around the world, and it’s making yet another – this time, in the world of renewable energy.
Renewable energy is energy that naturally occurs, such as wind, solar, water, and geothermal. Google began using renewable energy a few years ago and right now, 34% of its operations are being powered by renewable energy. The company, however, wants to make 100% of its operations environmentally friendly.
According to an article by Guardian Liberty Voice, Google recently spent $1 billion to fund 15 different solar and wind projects. The power created by these projects will be equal to the power generated by the Hoover Dam, and most of this power will be used in the U.S. One of these projects is located near the border of California and Nevada and uses almost 350,000 mirrors to create 392 megawatts of electricity; it’s considered the largest solar thermal project in the world.
Among the Silicon Valley companies that are going green, Google has been making the biggest impact. In the same GLV article, Ben Schachter, senior Internet analyst of Macquarie Securities, says, “They are certainly trying many different initiatives to figure out how best to manage their footprint in the environment, as well as how to manage the cost of all their energy.”
In addition to Google’s solar and wind projects, the company also makes an environmental effort by buying renewable energy from the utility providers and wind farms near its data centers.
According to Google’s website, here are some other energy projects that the company has invested in:
- Panhandle 2 Wind Farm: financing wind in Texas
- Recurrent Energy: solar facilities in California and Arizona
- Mount Signal Solar: financing solar in California
- Jasper Power Project: investing in South African solar
- Spinning Spur Wind Farm: investing in West Texas wind
- Rippey Wind Farm: financing wind power in Iowa
- Recurrent Energy: large scale photovoltaic (PV) projects in California
- Clean Power Finance: financing for rooftop solar
- SolarCity: solar for thousands of residential rooftops
- BrightSource: concentrated solar power at scale
- Atlantic Wind Connection: a superhighway for clean energy transmission
- Alta Wind Energy Center: harnessing winds of the Mojave
- Shepherd’s Flat: one of the world’s largest wind farms
- Peace Garden Wind Farms: opening up more financing for wind
- Photovoltaics in Germany: investing in clean energy overseas
In addition to HVAC installation and HVAC repair, Oliver also offers renewable energy options like geothermal energy. Call us today for more information!
