Google’s Brighter Future – Solar Energy
In October 2006, Google announced a commitment to solar energy production and launched the largest solar panel installation to date on a corporate campus in the United States. Google has installed over 90% of the 9,212 solar panels that comprise the 1,600 kilowatt project. Panels cover the rooftops of eight buildings and two newly constructed solar carports at the Googleplex (check out this fly-over video).
This installation is projected to produce enough electricity for approximately 1,000 California homes or 30% of Google’s peak electricity demand in our solar powered buildings at our Mountain View, CA headquarters.
They built a web page to monitor and share the day to day production of clean, renewable energy from Google’s very own rooftops.
Google’s headquarter in Mountain View California, the largest solar panel installation to date on a corporate campus in the United States.
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(English) Google’s Goal: Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal
Google Could Outspend the Federal Government
Google aims to make electricity derived from the wind and sun and other renewable sources of energy cheaper than burning coal, and the Web search giant has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars toward the effort, including tens of millions in 2008. It didn’t release specific figures, but it did set the goal of producing enough electricity to power San Francisco in “years not decades.”
The initiative will focus first on solar thermal power, wind power and geothermal systems.
Depending on how fast Google spends its money, its investment could rival the federal government’s investment in renewable energy. A Government Accountability Office report found that Department of Energy spending on research and development of biomass, wind and solar energy sources totaled just $65 million in 2006. (Since this was posted this morning, the folks over at reddit have identified other Department of Energy budget documents that make the GAO estimate seem far too low, with $1.16 billion being appropriated for energy efficiency and renewable energy in 2006, and $1.24 billion requested for 2008.)
The Google initiative will create jobs, though how many is unclear. It’s the latest sign that renewable energy technology development can be a growing source of economic power in the coming years.
“If we meet this goal,” said Google co-founder Larry Page, “and large-scale renewable deployments are cheaper than coal, the world will have the option to meet a substantial portion of electricity needs from renewable sources and significantly reduce carbon emissions. We expect this would be a good business for us as well.”
Source: The Daily News
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/google-renewable-energy-47112801
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Ontario goes solar
The Ontario government has given approval for a California company to construct a massive solar “farm” near Sarnia that will blanket an area larger than all three Toronto islands with hundreds of thousands of sun-soaking panels.
It will be the largest solar power station in North America and among the most expansive in the world to use photovoltaic cells that produce electricity when exposed to sunlight. Once complete, the 40-megawatt Sarnia project will be able to supply enough emission-free electricity to power between 10,000 and 15,000 homes on sunny days.
“This is certainly the most exciting thing I’ve ever worked on,” said Peter Carrie of OptiSolar Farms Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Hayward, Calif.-based OptiSolar Inc. “We want to take solar mainstream.”
The Ontario Power Authority has agreed to purchase the electricity under a 20-year contract that will see the clean power go into the provincial grid. An official announcement is expected today from the energy ministry.
The current world record-holder is the 12-megawatt Erlasee solar park in Germany, though another 40-megawatt park is under construction in the same region. On Monday, the largest U.S. project was announced: A 15-megawatt solar PV system to be built at an air force base in Nevada.
Ontario is proposing a solar farm similar to this one Amstein, Germany. The Ontario plant will be able to supply enough electricity to power up to 15,000 homes on sunny days.
Source: Toronto Star
To read the complete article visit:
http://www.thestar.com/article/207415
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Power to the people
Olivia Chow isn’t thinking of starring in a home renovation program on one of those specialty TV channels, but she has become a media celebrity with a show of her own on the popular YouTube website.
It can be seen by going to youtube.com and entering “Olivia Chow green house” in the search bar to see some of the energy-saving renovations she and husband Jack Layton, national leader of the New Democratic Party, have made to their downtown Toronto home.
“Over the years,” the NDP Member of Parliament for Trinity-Spadina says, “people ask me questions about retrofitting, like, `How is it done? Is it possible? Can you actually put a solar panel up? What if there isn’t enough sun?’
“So I figured the best way is to actually show people what it looks like. Talking in theories and figures doesn’t quite work. Now when people ask about energy retrofitting your home and reducing energy bills, I can actually tell them to go to youtube.com and check it out.”
The video includes Chow with seven rooftop solar panels the couple installed over the years to produce electricity and heat their hot water. Also included is a meter that produces a smile on their faces when it spins backward. That means they’re helping to generate electricity that will go back to the grid for others to use. Other stops on the 4 1/2-minute tour of their home show energy-smart kitchen appliances, triple-paned windows and a low-flow toilet.
Source: Toronto Star
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Esse é o nosso compromisso e o nosso desafio.
