Google made a rather impressive green investment this week, putting $130 million into eSolar, a solar energy company which specializes in developing a solar to steam technology which is to be used to launch the construction of a solar power plant.
Google entering the electricity and utility industry via investments like this is an interesting yet logical direction for the company, as efficiency driven profitability is at the company’s core.
Its founders have showed global interest in renewable energies and alternatives to fossil fuels, and under the Google.org umbrella, their philanthropic arm is now setting up the scenario for Google to perhaps become a major power in the global energy market if the solar powered power plants take off.
Here’s a little about eSolar’s core technology :
Concentrating solar power, which uses mirrors to turn liquid into steam that drives standard electricity-generating turbines. CSP, also sometimes called solar thermal, is considered a promising replacement for fossil fuel power plants, particularly the coal plants that generate more than half of U.S. electricity. It’s been around for decades, last seeing popularity in the early 1980s, when oil hit an inflation-adjusted price of $82 per barrel. Higher oil prices make fossil fuel plants more costly, making it easier for alternative technologies to compete.
Besides solar energy, Google has also made investments in wind powered energy as they plan to invest in the research and development of renewable energy which costs less than producing energy from coal. Google is not just going Granola Crunchie, they are looking at the business side and profitability of becoming an energy powerhouse as well.
More on Google and their Green Energy Policy
