…is quite impressive in this Grist interview. A very smart but very practical approach at the company, Google, level – and at the global level. But you will not learn the Google carbon footprint — that would allow competitors to back calculate the closely guarded secret of the size of Google’s infrastructure.
But Weihl will say that their data centers consume less than half of the typical industry center.
In late 2007, the dot-com giant announced its intention to make renewable energy cheaper than coal. The RE<C program aims to produce one gigawatt of electricity generating capacity — enough to power the city of San Francisco — from clean, green sources “within years, not decades.” The man responsible for making it happen, and for making the company carbon neutral, is Bill Weihl, Google’s flamboyantly titled “green energy czar.” He’ll have hundreds of millions of dollars at his disposal to get the job done.
This is not Google’s first foray into clean-tech: Since 2006, the company has been investing mightily in R&D for plug-in hybrids and renewable-energy innovation via its for-profit philanthropy arm, Google.org.
But the scope and ambition of RE<C dwarfs previous efforts — and raises some questions. For one, why is Google refusing to disclose how much energy it consumes? For another, why does the green energy czar have a background in computers instead of power plants? And, most importantly, why should we believe an internet company can solve the world’s energy crisis?
Weihl spoke to me from his office in Seattle…
RTWT. Recommended
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