Google turns on solar panels
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(InfoWorld) - Google on Monday turned on the solar panels covering nearly all the roof space on its corporate campus and announced that its philanthropic arm plans to dole out over $10 million in grants to support hybrid cars. The announcements follow one last week made from Google's offices in Mountain View, California that launched an industry-wide initiative around improving the energy efficiency of PCs and servers. The solar panels, which make up the largest solar installation on a corporate campus in the U.S., produce 1.6 megawatts of energy, enough to supply about one-third of Google's energy use on the campus, said Jacquelline Fuller, a Google spokeswoman. In addition to the solar panels, Google has also unveiled a new employee parking garage where drivers can charge their plug-in cars, powering up their batteries using solar energy. Plug-ins are hybrid cars that users can drive in all-electric mode for around 30 miles before relying on the gas engine. Because automobile manufacturers aren't producing plug-ins, Google is converting hybrid cars into plug-ins. So far, it has converted four Toyota Prius and two Ford Escapes, Fuller said. On its RechargeIT Web site, Google is posting data on the performance of the cars. Eventually, the company plans to have 100 such plug-in cars that employees who take public transportation to the office will be able to use to run errands during their work days as part of a car-sharing program. The announcements about the changes to the corporate campus were part of the launch of the RechargeIT Initiative by Google.org, the philanthropic arm of the company, on Monday. The plan includes several efforts mainly around plug-in cars, starting with grants already dispersed to a variety of groups. Google.org has given $200,000 each to the Brookings Institute in support of a conference next year about federal policy to promote plug-in vehicles and CalCars for the continuation of its educational initiatives about the cars. The Electrical Power Research Institute, Plug-In America, Rocky Mountain Institute, and a professor at the University of Delaware all have also received grants for their plug-in car projects. In addition, Google.org has earmarked $10 million for investments in companies and projects that support alternative transportation that reduces the use of fossil fuels and emissions. Later this summer the company plans to formally request proposals for the grant money. Last week, Google hinted at the impending launch of environmental initiatives when it hosted the introduction of theÂ Climate Savers Computing Initiative. That group, which includes a who's-who list of the technology industry such as Intel, Dell, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, and Hewlett-Packard, is setting a series of standards that will incrementally improve the efficiency of power cords used on PCs and servers through 2010.
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Two new facilities use solar power to produce hydrogen and biofuels, showing progress in the quest to add a little sun to your fuel tank. In Autopia.
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Blog: Solar installer SolarCity develops software to monitor and report on solar panel output through an Internet connection.
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Nanosolar, a privately held solar  energy company whose backers include Google Inc's   co-founders, on Tuesday said it has started to sell what it  calls "the world's lowest cost solar panel."
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Solar power these days comes from cells that turn light into electricity, but researchers are now working on materials that can crank out hydrogen. By John Gartner.
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Web giant Google is backing hybrid cars as part of its plan to make the entire firm carbon neutral by 2008.
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Google yesterday laid out its plan for philanthropy and announced $25 million in grants aimed at addressing climate change as well as poverty and health issues in developing countries.
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Google Inc.  aims to cut or  offset all of its greenhouse emissions by the end of the year,  the Web search leader said on Tuesday .
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By Traci Watson  The residents of the International Space Station will soon be able to fire up lots of new electronic gadgets, thanks to two giant solar panels for the station that astronauts successfully unfolded Thursday.
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Nanosolar, a heavily financed Silicon Valley start-up whose backers include Googleâs co-founders, plans to announce Tuesday that it has begun selling its innovative solar panels.
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Upstart NRG Dock shows off a general-purpose solar panel and battery to power electronics.
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A solar cell made with spinach has been developed that promises electronic devices incorporating photosynthesis, the highly efficient process plants use to produce energy from sunlight.
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Google Inc. now provides a searchable index to the millions of Google Earth layers on the Web.
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Signs suggest solar power might be reaching a tipping point.
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Google.org, the philanthropic arm  of Google Inc , said on Thursday it is expanding beyond  funding for alternative energy to focus on projects in health  and combating poverty and climate change.
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Google activates the solar panels covering the roof space on its campus and says it will provide $10 million in grants for hybrid cars.
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MOUNTAIN VIEW, California  - Web search leader  Google Inc.  and semiconductor maker Intel Corp.   launched a broad-based program on Tuesday to introduce  more energy-efficient personal computers and server systems to  save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.