Comments on: Google has now invested over $780M in clean energy

By: belorateur

belorateur — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:26:51 +0000

I paid $32.67 for a XBOX 360 and my mom got a 17 inch Toshiba laptop for $94.83 being delivered to our house tomorrow by FedEX. I will never again pay expensive retail prices at stores. I even sold a 46 inch HDTV to my boss for $650 and it only cost me $52.78 to get. Here is the website we using to get all this stuff, BidsNew.com

By: Katie Fehrenbacher

Katie Fehrenbacher — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 22:52:49 +0000

@Max. Clean power investments on their own can get about a 10 to 12 percent return. Google wont be buying the power directly from this wind project. But in some cases Google can end up investing in a clean power project and then eventually buying the power for a data center, which can be another way to save money via a long term power purchase agreement with the developer that fixes a low cost over like 20 years — Ive written about this a lot of times, including here: http://gigaom.com/cleantech/the-real-reason-google-is-buying-wind-power/

By: Max

Max — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 22:29:15 +0000

This article doesn’t provide any insight into why these investments may be important. I don’t buy they’re doing it for the environments sake. Power is a significant cost to data centers and power costs have increased slowly but surely over time. How well do these investments hedge against the risk of their power costs increasing in the short-term?

By: Katie Fehrenbacher

Katie Fehrenbacher — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 19:12:38 +0000

@onthefence and @JRS. Their commitment is super exciting!

By: Katie Fehrenbacher

Katie Fehrenbacher — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:26:51 +0000

@Matthew Williams, thanks for the additional info!

By: onthefence

onthefence — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:22:11 +0000

Geez, pretty soon they’ll surpass the federal gov’t in green energy spending.

By: Matthew Williams

Matthew Williams — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:12:18 +0000

Another greentech startup that Google has invested in is Clean Power Finance (http://www.cleanpowerfinance.com/)

Source: http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/kpcb-still-very-much-in-the-greentech-vc-business-invests-in-solar-saas-sta/

By: JRS

JRS — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:51:09 +0000

Go Google! That’s some impressive work! I’m glad to see that there are actually some big businesses out there that actually care about the impact they have on the environment and are working to improve the world we live in. It gives me hope for the future.

Currently, I’m tryin to make my own contribution by assisting with and independent documentary called “Sust Enable: the Metamentary,” which will focus on various issues of sustainability. To learn more, visit our website: http://www.sust-enable.com/ Also be sure to check out our Indie GoGo campaign: http://www.indiegogo.com/Sust-Enable-The-Metamentary