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<\/a><\/p>\nCan Google improve green technology?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Well-known cleantech investor Google is looking further afield \u2013 all the way to Europe \u2013 for green energy opportunities, according to its head of green business, Ben Kott.<\/p>\n
Kott told Reuters<\/a> at a briefing in London that Google was looking at power generation projects in Europe. Google.org, the company’s philanthropic arm, has been branching out from investments near its California base to a $39 million bet on a North Dakota wind farm <\/a>and now, possibly, to Europe.<\/p>\n Is there a strategy here?<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s difficult to discern.<\/p>\n Google.org\u00a0has broadly outlined its green principles <\/a>through the slogan RE<C (develop renenewable energy cheaper than coal) and has a three-step plan.<\/p>\n 1) make grants and investments in renewable energy<\/p>\n 2) advance public policy to accelerate development of renewables<\/p>\n 3) use Google products to enable innovation and raise awareness<\/p>\n Parts 2 and 3 of the plan are easy enough; company executives have been vocal in their support of green energy policies and are trying to cut energy waste through its smart metering application, PowerMeter.<\/p>\n But the company, which has\u00a0hundreds of millions of dollars\u00a0to spend on green energy ventures,\u00a0has been all over the place with part 1.<\/p>\n Google started off with venture capital-style investments in companies with promising technology such as BrightSource Energy, eSolar, SilverSprings Networks and AltaRock Energy.<\/p>\n The investments have met with varying degrees of success \u2013 BrightSource scored a $1.37 billion loan guarantee from the Department of Energy for its Ivanpah Solar Power Complex in February and has overcome regulatory and conservation hurdles.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Geothermal developer AltaRock abandoned its Geysers drilling project near San Francisco amidst (though not necessarily because of ) concerns about whether digging deep into the earth could trigger earthquakes.<\/p>\n Having dabbled in emerging technologies, Google\u2019s Green Business Operations Manager Rick Needham said the company\u2019s next step is investment in the 169.5 megawatt wind farm, developed by NextEra Energy Resources.<\/p>\n This is where it gets confusing.<\/p>\n Needham, in his blog post on the investment<\/a>, talks about the need to<\/p>\n accelerate the deployment of the latest clean energy technology while providing attractive returns to Google and more capital for developers to build additional projects.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n But is there any particular reason to invest in a project in North Dakota, other than a general commitment to corporate responsibility? What about Europe?<\/p>\n It seems that Google.org is mired in an internal debate that mirrors the biggest dispute in green energy \u2013 what we might call the Revkin\/Bell Labs vs. Romm\/deployment split.<\/p>\n Does Google devote its resources to funding a greentech Bell Labs for the next millennium that will create the technological innovations necessary to supplant coal?<\/p>\n Dot Earth blogger Andrew Revkin<\/a>, among others, advocates this approach to green energy.<\/p>\n\n