Some of these include: $103 million for the Mount Signal Solar project, the Alta Wind Energy Centre, $100 million for the Shepherds Flat Wind Farm in Oregon, $94 million for four solar power farms in California, and $38.8 million for two wind farms in North Dakota. All of this is in line with their commitment to accessible and affordable renewable energy for everyone. The combined power output of the six new solar power farms in California and Arizona is expected to produce 160MW capacity enough to power 17,000 homes.
Google Solar Power Efforts: A Brief Background
A better web; better for the environment. This is one of Google’s taglines in opting for a renewable source of energy that would help protect the environment by adapting renewable energy for the company. Claiming to have eliminated their impact on climate change since 2007, the company has invested around $1 billion not just for solar power projects, but for renewable energy initiatives as a whole. They also claim that their data centres utilise 50% less energy than their counterparts that do not rely on renewable energy for power.
What It Means for the General Public
With solar quotes enjoying some popularity thanks to its positive effects on the planet, these Google Solar Power and renewable energy investments mean only good news as more sources for renewable energy are tapped to be more accessible and affordable to the general public. The main idea is to lease the energy to homeowners by virtue of a project called SolarCity. The question regarding sustainability seems to be giving way to results thanks to the 2 billion gigawatts of energy waiting to be produced by all of Google’s renewable energy projects combined.
To give you an idea, the amount of energy that Google’s investments have produced, 2 billion gigawatts, is enough to supply electricity to 500,000 households. That amount of power is equivalent to seeing 70 billion one-hour episodes of any TV show, 312 years to power the Sydney Opera House, and 190,000 round-the-world travels by a vehicle operating on 28 miles per gallon. With more projects down the line, this amount is meant to increase as the years go by, and only time will tell if it could become the chief power source in the future, for the sake of the planet.
Corporate Social Responsibility
It is good to see big corporations like Google leading the initiative for renewable power sources, given how they are also considered to be the biggest power consumers themselves. With solar quotes in an upswing, such companies could help in spreading power and knowledge to consumers, who are then given more choices with regards to their power consumption sources. In the end, power consumption and the survival of the planet could go hand in hand after all.
