Google To Run Entirely On Clean Energy By Next Year

By next year, Google intends to run entirely on wind and solar power in what is now described as a major milestone. According to Bloomberg, Gary Demasi who is the director for global infrastructure and energy said the internet giant expects to purchase enough clean power in 2017 to meet or exceed all of its consumption at its offices and 13 data centers; it used 5.7 terawatts of energy in 2015. The company signed its first renewable-energy deal in 2010 and now has contracts for 2.6 gigawatts of capacity from 20 wind and solar farms worldwide. The projects required about $3.5 billion to build, and about $2 billion went for power plants in the U.S.

Google is not alone in this as Microsoft till date has bought about 500 megawatts of power from wind energy with an aim to use around 50 percent of renewable energy by 2018. Facebook is also powering its data centre in Texas with Wind energy. In all about, companies have signed deals to buy 5.1GW of power from renewable sources. Before 2105, that figure was 1.1GW. This goes to tell us just how much companies are now looking in the direction of other alternative sources of energy.

The outgoing Obama administration had sought to greatly reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil by raising standards for fuel efficiency in vehicles. With respect to leadership in the clean energy area, America’s installed capacity is gradually increasing. In 2015, America’s installed solar capacity stood at 13.3 percent at 25,620MW compared to Germany’s 22.5 percent at 45, 530MW but what’s interesting is that China, Japan and the United States all topped the chart with respect to increasing overall capacity in the same year.

In an interview with the New York Times, President-elect Donald Trump said he’s not looking at subsiding wind energy at the moment. He said Wind has not showed promising signs without subsidy and he doesn’t think it’s a good place to invest money at the moment. While the US is making giant strides in the areas of clean energy, it’s not clear how the industry would react to an administration that doesn’t even think climate change is a national security issue.