Google is a Big Renewable Energy Investor

When someone thinks of Google they likely think first of their browser. However, Google should come to the mind of renewable energy enthusiasts. The reason is simple: Google invests in renewable energy, with a goal of powering its operations with 100 percent renewable energy.

The numbers are big: the company has over $1.5 billion worth of agreements to fund renewable energy projects, with a capacity of over 2.5 gigawatts (GW). The projects are expected to generate over six billion kilowatt hours (kWh) a year, enough electricity to power about 500,000 homes.

Google’s North Bayshore campus in Mountain View is one example. The company signed a long-term agreement with NextEra Energy Resources to buy local wind energy, enough to offset electricity use at its headquarters at the North Bayshore campus. Through the agreement with NextEra, a wind farm at Altamont Pass in California will have new, more efficient turbines that will add 43 megawatts (MW) of power to the grid in 2016. The energy generated by the wind turbines will feed into the grid that powers the buildings on the North Bayshore campus. 

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Photo: Keoki Seu

Gina-Marie Cheeseman is a central California-based journalist who writes about sustainability, environmental issues, and healthy living. With a degree in journalism and a passion for social responsibility, she writes for a number of online publications. She believes that collaboration between the public and private sectors can help solve many problems facing the planet and its people. Mashable.com named Cheeseman as one of the “75 Environmentalists to Follow on Twitter.”