How a stimulus package could improve the economy and energy policy
Recognizing that the incoming administration and Congress are likely to pass a stimulus package early-on, Google.org makes some suggestions on how this package could be used to improve our energy policy and economy at the same time. Here are the four major suggestions:
Invest in renewable energy by changing the structure of the wind and solar tax credits. With the current economy, many investors cannot take advantage of tax credits since they no longer have profits. If Congress transformed the credits into refunds, investors would receive the incentives Congress intended. READ MORE
Video of Google CEO Schmidt discussing Google Clean Energy 2030
This is a video of Google CEO Eric Schmidt speaking at a Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) event in New York last week. Schmidt discussed, among other things, the Google Clean Energy 2030 plan, which calls for a complete transformation of our nation’s energy policy in order to get off of fossil fuels by 2030.
Schmidt has been in the news even more than usual lately, due to his position on President-elect Obama’s transition team.
Money quote: “When you do the math you discover that doing the right thing [for the environment] is [also] the right thing for business.”
Could Google be the GE of the 21st century?
An article in the NYTimes gives an overview of Google’s vast pursuit of clean technology development, noting, “Last year, Google unveiled an ambitious initiative called RE<C, denoting its goal to develop renewable energy that is cheaper than coal. Since then, much of the public focus on the initiative has been in the approximately $45 million in investments that Google.org has made in wind, solar and geothermal energy start-ups.” This is in addition to the proposed Google Clean Energy 2030 plan recently released. READ MORE
Can Google save the planet?
With the announcement that it was proposing a $4.4 trillion plan to get the U.S. off of fossil fuels by 2030, Google joined the ranks of Al Gore and T. Boone Pickens, as those providing desperately needed private leadership to address the problems of climate change and our failing energy policy.
Google, which uses tremendous amounts of energy to power its servers, has (through it’s philanthropic unit Google.org) put together a comprehensive plan that would fundamentally shift the way our country generates energy. According to the proposal’s architect, Jeffrey Greenblatt, “Technologies and know-how to accomplish this are either available today or are under development.”
The major proposals of the plan include:
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