It’s not even new year’s eve yet, and Google has already set it’s New Year’s resolution, attaining 100 percent renewable energy in all of its operation centers around the globe.
The major announcement came on Monday saying that some time in the next year, all of Google’s offices and data centers will be powered solely by renewable energy sources. Google aims to achieve this feat using large-scale solar and wind energy infrastructure, and by their estimate, the cost of installation will offset the cost of electricity they consume from local power grids using fossil fuels.
Senior vice president for Google’s technical infrastructure, Urs Holzle, wrote on the company blog,
“We began purchasing renewable energy to reduce our carbon footprint and address climate change — but it also makes business sense.”
The cost of renewable energy has come down by 80 percent over the last six years, mainly due to the increase in demand and the focus on research. Google says that this is one of the reasons why it is easier for them to look for a more global approach in applying this concept. Already, the tech giant has installed 20 renewable projects— two-thirds of which are operational in the U.S.
The announcement accompanied an environmental report outlining company’s carbon footprint with a dedicated web site monitoring and articulating the efforts to reduce energy.
Google will be the largest tech company to completely go emission free, but it is not the only one! Apple has also been a massive buyer of solar technology, and the company even opened a subsidiary called Apple Energy LLC which sells the surplus solar power extracted from its own farms in Cupertino and Nevada.
In this regard, even Amazon and Facebook have made several deals with wind and solar energy producers. And according to The New York Times, even Microsoft is 100% carbon neutral, although most of this neutrality comes from carbon offset projects like tree planting etc.
What are your thought on the global focus on the effort to manage climate change? Comment below!
