Public Policy Blog
Updates on technology policy issues
Examining the impact of clean energy innovation
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Posted by Bill Weihl, Green Energy Czar, and Charles Baron, Google.org, Clean Energy Team
(Cross-posted from the
Official Google Blog
.)
At Google, we’re committed to using technology to solve one of the greatest challenges we face as a country: building a clean energy future. That’s why we’ve worked hard to be carbon neutral as a company, launched our
renewable energy cheaper than coal
initiative and have
invested
in several clean energy companies and projects around the world.
But what if we knew the value of innovation in clean energy technologies? How much could new technologies contribute to our economic growth, enhance our energy security or reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions? Robust data can help us understand these important questions, and the role innovation in clean energy could play in addressing our future economic, security and climate challenges.
Through Google.org, our energy team set out to answer some of these questions. Using
McKinsey’s Low Carbon Economics Tool
(LCET), we assessed the long-term economic impacts for the U.S. assuming breakthroughs were made in several different clean energy technologies, like wind, geothermal and electric vehicles. McKinsey’s LCET is a neutral, analytic set of interlinked models that estimates the potential economic and technology implications of various policy and technology assumptions.
The analysis is based on a model and includes assumptions and conclusions that Google.org developed, so it isn’t a prediction of the future. We’ve decided to make the
analysis and associated data
available everywhere because we believe it could provide a new perspective on the economic value of public and private investment in energy innovation. Here are just some of the most compelling findings:
Energy innovation pays off big:
We compared “business as usual” (BAU) to scenarios with breakthroughs in clean energy technologies. On top of those, we layered a series of possible clean energy policies (more details in the
report
). We found that by 2030, when compared to BAU, breakthroughs could help the U.S.:
Grow GDP by over $155 billion/year ($244 billion in our Clean Policy scenario)
Create over 1.1 million new full-time jobs/year (1.9 million with Clean Policy)
Reduce household energy costs by over $942/year ($995 with Clean Policy)
Reduce U.S. oil consumption by over 1.1 billion barrels/year
Reduce U.S. total carbon emissions by 13% in 2030 (21% with Clean Policy)
Speed matters and delay is costly:
Our model found a mere five year delay (2010-2015) in accelerating technology innovation led to $2.3-3.2 trillion in unrealized GDP, an aggregate 1.2-1.4 million net unrealized jobs and 8-28 more gigatons of potential GHG emissions by 2050.
Policy and innovation can enhance each other:
Combining clean energy policies with technological breakthroughs increased the economic, security and pollution benefits for either innovation or policy alone. Take GHG emissions: the model showed that combining policy and innovation led to 59% GHG reductions by 2050 (vs. 2005 levels), while maintaining economic growth.
This analysis assumed that breakthroughs in clean energy happened and that policies were put in place, and then tried to understand the impact. The data here allows us to imagine a world in which the U.S. captures the potential benefits of some clean energy technologies: economic growth, job generation and a reduction in harmful emissions. We haven’t developed the roadmap, and getting there will take the right mix of policies, sustained investment in technological innovation by public and private institutions and mobilization of the private sector’s entrepreneurial energies. We hope this analysis encourages further discussion and debate on these important issues.
Energy data access for consumers gaining momentum
Monday, June 13, 2011
Posted by Michael Terrell, Energy Policy Counsel
Studies show
when people have more direct feedback on their electricity consumption, they make simple changes that save them energy and money. Take
Tom Tassi
from Kenosha, Wisconsin, for example. He cut his monthly electric bill from $300 to $85 – more than $2,500 per year – by using a home energy monitor to immediately see what was using the most power in his home and changing fixtures and bulbs. Making better energy information widely available could result in
billions of dollars in savings
by consumers and businesses. It can also provide a foundation for innovation as new technologies and apps are developed to help people manage energy.
With that in mind, last year Google joined more than 45 companies and other organizations in
calling for
consumers to have more ready access to their energy data.
We’re excited to see that momentum continue. This morning the White House
announced
a series of measures aimed at making energy data accessible to consumers. Part of a national effort to modernize the nation’s electricity grid, the plan calls for ensuring people can access their energy data in "consumer-friendly and computer-friendly formats" and includes measures to track progress, assistance to states to implement data access policies, and funds for supporting smart grid innovation.
Today's announcement comes on the heels of bipartisan
legislation
introduced by Senators Mark Udall and Scott Brown that would ensure consumers can access digital information generated from "smart" electricity meters.
We hope these recent developments will help unlock energy information and ensure that everyone can use that data to save energy and cut their power bills.
Unleashing energy innovation
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Posted by Michael Terrell, Energy Policy Counsel
The Internet, digital music, smart phones - these are just some of the innovations that have changed the way we live and work. Yet the way we use energy - whether it’s powering our cars or our homes and businesses - hasn’t changed in decades. Our economy needs a cleaner, more efficient way of delivering energy while giving people better tools and information to manage their energy use.
The good news is there’s widespread agreement that transforming the energy sector is a big opportunity to create jobs, foster innovation and grow new industries. At Google, we’ve been working to transform our own energy use. We’ve made our data centers the
most efficient in the world
, built a
fleet of electric cars
,
invested in renewable energy
, and developed online tools like
Google PowerMeter
.
Of course, government policy plays an important role in driving change towards a cleaner economy and it’s important to get the rules right. There’s a real debate happening now in Washington about how to solve the nation’s energy challenges. We don’t have all the answers, but here are a few important areas that policymakers should consider:
Drive investments in energy infrastructure and technology.
With the right mix of policies, vast amounts of private capital can be leveraged to develop the next generation of energy infrastructure. That means a smarter, more efficient power grid and more renewable power generation, whether it’s utility-scale or on rooftops. The government should provide clear market signals through measures such as energy efficiency and clean energy standards. And we should deploy a variety of incentives to help take new technologies to full commercial scale.
Stimulate R&D to find the next technological breakthroughs.
We should support research and development that can lead to the next energy breakthroughs, including innovative programs like the
Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy
(ARPA-E), which has spurred four dollars in
private sector investment
for every taxpayer dollar spent.
Remove barriers to innovation and empower energy consumers.
Regulatory and market barriers have created huge inefficiencies in the way homes and businesses use energy. Consumers still lack basic information and tools for better managing their energy use. Utility regulation must be brought into the 21st century to promote investments in efficiency and renewables and reductions in
peak energy demand
. That includes enacting policies that give consumers access to and control over
their own energy information
.
We’ll be engaging on these issues over the next few months. In the meantime, we invite you to post comments and join the conversation!
Video of Power in Numbers: Unleashing Innovation in Home Energy
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Posted by David Green, Global Communications and Public Affairs
Access to information about our home energy use can teach us all sorts of things about the appliances in our homes and how they interact with the electric grid. At
an event
we recently co-hosted with
The Climate Group
, the President’s most senior White House energy official, Carol Browner, told a story about how one of her colleagues did a home energy audit. During the audit, he discovered that one of his two stereos was using more than twice as much energy as the other. Both played music well, but it cost him twice as much to listen on one of the stereos.
We know that when people have access to their energy data, they tend to make simple behavioral decisions that save money and energy. For some that means smarter usage, like using the more efficient stereo. This is one of the small changes that can make a meaningful impact that was discussed at the event. If you’re interested in more about the technology and policies needed to drive innovation in home energy use, video from the half day program is available here.
Part #1:
Tools & technologies that will empower people with information and control
Part #2: ET meets IT: Getting to Scale, A Fireside Chat with Charlene Begley, President and CEO, GE Home & Business Solutions
Part #3:
Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change
Part #4:
How do we get there?
Setting efficiency goals for data centers
Monday, April 12, 2010
Posted by Urs Hoelzle, Senior Vice President, Operations and Google Fellow
For the past decade, we have been working to make our data centers as efficient as possible; we now use less than half the energy to run Google's
data centers
than the industry average. In the open letter below, I am very happy to welcome a group of industry leaders who collectively represent most of the world's most advanced data center operators. -Urs Hoelzle
Recently, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) added data centers to their building efficiency standard, ASHRAE Standard 90.1. This standard defines the energy efficiency for most types of buildings in America and is often incorporated into building codes across the country.
Data centers are among the fastest-growing users of energy, according to an EPA
report
, and most data centers have historically been designed and operated without regard to energy efficiency (for details, see this 2009 EPA Energy Star
survey
). Thus, setting efficiency standards for data centers is important, and we welcome this step.
We believe that for data centers, where the energy used to perform a function (e.g., cooling) is easily measured, efficiency standards should be performance-based, not prescriptive. In other words, the standard should set the required efficiency without prescribing the specific technologies to accomplish that goal. That’s how many efficiency standards work; for example, fuel efficiency standards for cars specify how much gas a car can consume per mile of driving but not what engine to use. A performance-based standard for data centers can achieve the desired energy saving results while still enabling our industry to innovate and find new ways to improve our products.
Unfortunately, the proposed ASHRAE standard is far too prescriptive. Instead of setting a required level of efficiency for the cooling system as a whole, the standard dictates which types of cooling methods must be used. For example, the standard requires data centers to use economizers — systems that use ambient air for cooling. In many cases, economizers are a great way to cool a data center (in fact, many of our companies' data centers use them extensively), but simply requiring their use doesn’t guarantee an efficient system, and they may not be the best choice. Future cooling methods may achieve the same or better results without the use of economizers altogether. An efficiency standard should not prohibit such innovation.
Thus, we believe that an overall data center-level cooling system efficiency standard needs to replace the proposed prescriptive approach to allow data center innovation to continue. The standard should set an aggressive target for the maximum amount of energy used by a data center for overhead functions like cooling. In fact, a similar approach is already being adopted in the industry. In a recent
statement
, data center industry leaders agreed that Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) is the preferred metric for measuring data center efficiency. And the EPA Energy Star program already uses this method for data centers. As leaders in the data center industry, we are committed to aggressive energy efficiency improvements, but we need standards that let us continue to innovate while meeting (and, hopefully, exceeding) a baseline efficiency requirement set by the ASHRAE standard.
Chris Crosby, Senior Vice President, Digital Realty Trust
Hossein Fateh, President and Chief Executive Officer, Dupont Fabros Technology
James Hamilton, Vice President and Distinguished Engineer, Amazon
Urs Hoelzle, Senior Vice President, Operations and Google Fellow, Google
Mike Manos, Vice President, Service Operations, Nokia
Kevin Timmons, General Manager, Datacenter Services, Microsoft
Joseph F. Dzaluk, VP, Global Infrastructure and Resource Management, ITDelivery, IBM
Update (4/20/10)
: Added Joseph F. Dzaluk (IBM) as a signer.
Powering consumers with information about their energy use
Monday, April 5, 2010
Posted by Michael Terrell, Energy Policy Counsel
We all receive an electricity bill once a month that is hard to decipher besides the total amount due. What if we instead had access to
more useful and actionable information
about our energy consumption? What if consumers could use this information to automatically adjust appliances, lights, and other equipment to save money and cut energy use?
That’s what a group of over 45 major companies and organizations said today in a
letter to President Obama
. Signers include companies like AT&T, General Electric and Intel and NGOs like The Climate Group, NRDC and the Alliance to Save Energy. The group also includes start ups, smart grid companies, venture firms and trade organizations.
This diverse group shares a common vision: giving consumers the ability to monitor and manage their power use will save them energy and money. It will also unleash innovation in homes and businesses as new energy saving technologies and apps are developed.
This group will continue to look for ways to offer ideas to policymakers on how to empower consumers with energy saving tools and information. Join
the discussion
tomorrow at an event in Washington, DC co-hosted by Google and The Climate Group. If you can make it, RSVP
here
.
Join us this coming Tuesday to discuss innovation and home energy use
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Posted by Jamie Yood, Google Clean Energy Team
How many times have you been headed out of town for a long weekend when you got that sick feeling that you didn’t turn off the lights? Wouldn’t it be great if you could turn down your AC from the beltway? Or learn how much it costs to run that extra load in the washer when you get home?
Turns out this isn’t
Jetsons’
talk. It’s right around the corner.
Join the President’s most senior White House energy official,
Carol Browner
, as well as corporate leaders and advocates this coming Tuesday to discuss how smart grid technology can get us there. The event co-hosted by Google DC and
The Climate Group
, will explore technologies and policies aimed at giving consumers the ability to better monitor and manage their energy use.
The potential for energy and cost savings are enormous - starting with data that says we can count on
savings of 5-15%
per household with little effort. What we're interested in, is putting our minds together to discuss how to help consumers get energy and cost savings, speed this future to market and how to encourage innovation.
Power in Numbers: Unleashing Innovation in Home Energy Use
Tuesday, April 6
1:00pm - 5:00pm - Event & Reception
Google Washington Office
1101 New York Ave. NW, Second Floor
Join us!
RSVP here
.
A price on carbon -- necessary but not sufficient
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Posted by Dan Reicher, Director of Climate Change & Energy Initiatives
The need to address the climate crisis provides us with an unprecedented opportunity to rebuild our energy system with vast economic, security, and environmental benefits. By putting significant limits on carbon emissions –- and adopting strong complementary energy policies -- we can create millions of new U.S. jobs, reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign energy, and protect ourselves from a global climate crisis. Yesterday I
testified
on just this subject before the
U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
.
Google published a scenario last year called
Clean Energy 2030
, which outlines one potential path to a clean energy future. The Clean Energy 2030 proposal would reduce U.S. CO2 emissions about 50% below the baseline projection, while creating 9 million new jobs and net savings of $800 billion.
The ability of the U.S. to seize this historic economic opportunity will be influenced, to a large extent, by actions taken by government to put a significant price on carbon emissions. But a significant price on carbon, while absolutely necessary, is not sufficient to address the climate problem and will not put the U.S. in the position to seize the extraordinary opportunities that will come with rebuilding the global energy economy.
There are four complementary energy policy mechanisms that will be critical to taking advantage of these opportunities:
First, we must significantly increase public funding of research and development of advanced energy technologies. In 1980 ten percent of the total government R&D investment was in energy. Today, it is only two percent.
Second, we must increase the capital available to deploy these advanced technologies at commercial scale.
Third, we must build a smarter and bigger electric grid to better harness energy efficiency and renewable energy. A smarter grid will let us see and understand our energy use, measure it, price it and manage it -- to get the most out of every watt. And a bigger grid will allow us to tap our nation's vast clean energy resources and deliver them where needed.
Fourth, we must set national standards to accelerate the uptake of cleaner and more efficient technologies.
Check out video of my opening testimony below, or read it
here
. You can also
view an archived webcast
of the full hearing on the Committee's website.
Smart grid stimulus is big win for consumers
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Posted by Michael Terrell, Energy Policy Counsel
President Obama today
announced
$3.4 billion in
federal stimulus funding
to build a "smarter" electricity grid. The funds are the largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history, according to the Department of Energy, and are expected to create tens of thousands of jobs.
We're excited because the vast majority of the projects will benefit consumers directly by giving them tools and information to save energy and cut utility bills. For example, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District will receive $127 million to install 600,000 smart meters and 50,000 programmable thermostats and home energy management systems. Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company will receive $130 million to provide 771,000 meters to 100% of its customers. These technologies will enable consumers to receive direct feedback on their energy use, which can lead to energy savings of
up to 15%
on average. Altogether
the awards
will fund the installation of 18 million smart meters, 1 million in-home energy displays and 170,000 smart thermostats.
With the advent of smart meters and other information technologies, we have the opportunity to rebuild the electricity grid, which still uses century-old technology in places. Most importantly, we can make the grid work better for consumers. Today's announcement is an ambitious step toward that goal.
Energy Secretary Chu visits Googleplex
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Posted by Michael Terrell, Energy Policy Counsel
(Cross-posted from the
Official Google Blog
.)
Secretary of Energy
Dr. Steven Chu
joined us at the
Google campus
yesterday to talk about how the U.S. can build a prosperous economy powered by clean energy.
During a fireside chat with Googlers and our CEO Eric Schmidt, Secretary Chu talked about what it will take to create a clean energy revolution. When it comes to clean tech investments, he said, the Department of Energy is trying to "hit home runs, not base hits." He noted that there are many proposed solutions to climate change out there, and we need to pursue all of them. "The scale of what we need to do is enormous," said Secretary Chu, and "putting the world on a carbon diet" and dramatically bringing down the cost of clean energy and should be top priorities. If we succeed, it will "drive a new industrial revolution."
Secretary Chu also heard from Googlers about some of our own clean energy projects including
Google PowerMeter
, which gives consumers access to their energy use information, developing
renewable energy that is cheaper than coal
(RE
datacenters the most energy efficient in the world. "More companies need to get on board and make this part of their business plan," said the Secretary.
While in Mountain View, Secretary Chu
announced
$151 million in funding for 37 breakthrough energy projects in technologies like renewable power, energy efficiency and electric cars. The funding is being made available through the
Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy
(ARPA-E), a newly-launched organization within the
Department of Energy
(DOE) created to support high-risk, high-reward research into innovative energy technologies. ARPA-E is modeled on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the agency that funded research that eventually led to the creation of the Internet.
(We'll post the full video of the Secretary's talk soon — check back later to watch!)
Update (10-29):
Check out the video below.
Where the smart grid meets the Internet
Friday, August 21, 2009
Posted by Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist
The term "smart grid" means many things to many people. At the most basic level, the smart grid is defining smarter ways to deliver and use energy -- but did you know that the smart grid is also defining new ways to generate and exchange energy information?
Building information technology into the electricity grid will revolutionize the way our homes and businesses use energy. The first step will be to develop open protocols and standards to allow smart grid devices and systems to communicate with one another. That's why Google and other stakeholders are participating in a
working group
coordinated by the
National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST)
to develop interoperability standards for a nationwide smart grid.
When people talk about networks for exchanging information -- particularly among millions of end users -- the first thing that often comes to mind is the Internet. So it makes sense to take the successful processes used to create Internet standards and apply them to this new energy information network.
Google, for example, believes in the
wisdom of crowds
(we've used that wisdom to enhance our products and we continue to get feedback on future products via
Google Labs
and
Google Code Labs
). And we've found that a good way to harness the wisdom of crowds is to create open standards to solve network issues. Some of the key principles to developing truly open standards include open and free access to:
Process.
The customers of the smart grid information network are energy producers and consumers, hardware and software developers and energy regulators. Collaborate, and make sure all parties are represented during the standards discussion.
Drafts.
There are a lot of people with networking expertise who are not directly involved with smart grid; make it easy for them to participate, for example, by hosting meetings online and posting documents that are universally accessible for review.
Comments.
Allow comments resulting from current standards drafts to influence future drafts.
Final standards.
If people can't access the standard, they can't implement the standard!
Standards unencumbered by patents.
If implementers need to worry about licenses to practice the standard, it is not really a completely open standard.
The smart grid is essentially a nascent energy Internet. Thanks to the open protocols and standards on which it was built, the Internet has grown into a thriving ecosystem, delivering innovative products and services to billions of users worldwide. Applying the same principles of openness to the development of standards for our nation's electric grid would create a smarter platform for products and services, helping consumers conserve energy and save money.
The vast potential of energy efficiency
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Posted by Michael Terrell, Program Manager, Google.org
It's no surprise that the cheapest and most available solution to the climate problem is simply to use energy more efficiently. But a
recent study
issued by
McKinsey & Co
. details just how compelling an opportunity we are missing. McKinsey predicts that an annual investment of roughly $50 billion over the next 10 years would cut energy demand by 23% and yield savings to the U.S. economy worth $1.2 trillion! The energy savings would be equal to taking the entire U.S. passenger fleet of cars and trucks off the road.
Such efficiency gains are possible only if we overcome some major hurdles. For instance, most people have no idea how much energy we use in our homes on a daily basis or which of our appliances or devices are consuming the most energy. That's one of the reasons that we created
Google PowerMeter
, a software gadget that shows users detailed information on their home electricity consumption.
Studies show
that when people have access to this kind information they reduce their energy use by up to 15%. Greater savings are possible if people use the information to buy a more efficient refrigerator or air conditioner, insulate their home, or take advantage of off-peak electricity rates.
The McKinsey report acknowledges that energy efficiency alone won't solve our energy and climate challenges. We must continue to put major resources into low-carbon sources of energy like
renewable energy
, and the
federal economic stimulus
, with its tens of billions of
targeted dollars and incentives
, is a good start. But the McKinsey findings are a wake up call. As we enact more comprehensive energy policies, energy efficiency -- and giving people the information, tools and incentives to take advantage of it -- should be front and center.
Clean energy's "Valley of Death"
Friday, May 8, 2009
Posted by Dan Reicher, Google.org Director of Climate Change & Energy Initiatives
The so-called "Valley of Death" is a scary place. It's where so many promising clean energy technologies die because they can't attract the significant capital to move from pilot scale (the realm of the venture capital world) to full-scale operating projects (where banks will invest). Failing to bridge this gap has cost us serious progress on clean energy technologies like wind, solar, and geothermal, which in turn has stifled the creation of new green jobs.
Last week the
U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
discussed ways to bridge the Valley of Death. The Committee held a significant hearing that addressed a proposal to create a new federal agency to help finance higher-risk clean energy projects that will deploy breakthrough technologies. I testified
last week
and also
last summer
to the Committee in support of this idea. Google.org's
RE<C
initiative is focused on creating renewable electricity, at utility-scale, that is cheaper than coal. The only way to achieve this goal is to move technologies from small pilot projects to full-scale commercial plants.
I'm pleased to note that last Friday the Chairman of the Senate Energy Committee,
Senator Bingaman
, and the top Republican on the Committee,
Senator Murkowski
, introduced
legislation
to assist clean energy technologies in securing sufficient funding to cross the Valley of Death. The bill was also introduced in the House by
Congressmen Inslee and Dingell
. The legislation would initially provide $10 billion in federal funding, which would leverage many times that in private finance for renewable, efficiency, and other clean energy projects deploying breakthrough technologies. We're throwing our strong support behind this bill, and we'll continue to work with others in clean energy finance, technology, and policy to advance efforts to build sorely-needed clean energy projects.
Using the stimulus to advance smarter energy use
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Posted by Michael Terrell, Program Manager, Google.org
(Cross-posted from the
Official google.org blog
)
The
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
, signed by President Obama in February, includes tens of billions of dollars in federal stimulus funding for
clean energy
. This investment gives our country an unprecedented opportunity to rebuild our energy system and make it cleaner and more efficient. It's also an opportunity to become "smarter" about the way we all use energy.
Getting smart about energy starts with empowering consumers and businesses with information and tools to make
better energy choices
. That's why we submitted comments yesterday with the
Department of Energy
, asking them to put consumers first as they develop one of the more promising elements of the ARRA -- a $4.5 billion grant program for "smart" grid investments. We also asked the DOE to ensure the program contributes to President Obama's goal of funding the installation of
40 million smart electricity meters
in American homes. You can read our comments
here
.
The advent of smart meters, the Internet and a myriad of other information technologies means that our interaction with electricity can be dramatically redefined. Instead of receiving a monthly bill in the mail, for example, we can receive information on electricity use in real time; instead of turning on the furnace or the A/C when once you are home, we can automate these systems or even control them remotely. We can even aggregate energy savings from appliances and electronic equipment from thousands of homes to avoid the need to build new power plants.
Using the stimulus to invest in the electricity grid can help accelerate this transformation, while in the process creating jobs and helping to diversify our energy supply. Most importantly, these investments can help consumers and businesses save energy and money. We feel it's important for the country not to miss this opportunity.
Open standards for a smart electric grid
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Posted by Harry Wingo, Policy Counsel
How would you feel if your gas station taped over the meters on the gas pump, preventing you from seeing how much gasoline you had just bought or how much you had to pay? What if you ran your credit card through but didn't see a receipt -- or at least not until the end of the month? This is how we buy electricity today.
But there's good news: Congress recently provided $4.5 billion to build a
smarter electricity grid
that can empower consumers with information about their electricity consumption.
Studies
have shown that having such consumer energy information in real-time can reduce energy use by 5 to 15 percent.
Edward Lu, Google's Program Manager for Advanced Projects and a
former astronaut
, testified today on
this topic
before the
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
.
Ed stressed that energy information should be provided to consumers in as close to real time as practical. And that information should be provided using open, non-proprietary standards that drive innovation and competition, and that will guard against technology obsolescence as the smart grid evolves.
The smart grid is essentially a nascent energy Internet. Thanks to the open protocols and standards on which it was built, the Internet has grown into a thriving ecosystem, delivering innovative products and services to billions of users worldwide. Applying the same principles of openness to our nation's electric grid would create a smarter platform for products and services, helping consumers conserve energy and save money.
Check out
Ed's full testimony
and a
video recording
of the hearing. Also, check out
Google PowerMeter
to get a preview of the sorts of consumer applications that could be built around a smart grid.
Washington plugs into the smart grid
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Posted by Michael Terrell, Google.org Program Manager
(Cross-posted from the
Official google.org Blog
)
Just one week after launching Google's
energy information
campaign, we kicked off our first joint
smart grid event
with GE, a larger clean energy collaboration we
announced
last fall. Our timing was fortuitous; the event took place just as President Obama signed an historic economic stimulus bill that includes $11 billion to modernize the electricity grid.
Getting energy information into the hands of consumers requires reworking the electricity grid to make it smarter. At Tuesday's event, hosted in Google's Washington office, experts explored what the fundamental elements of a smarter grid should be -- from empowering consumers with information, tools, and choices to manage their energy use, to creating an open system that encourages innovation, to enabling a massive scale up of renewable energy sources and plug-in vehicles. We also explored the government's role in accelerating these efforts. Our panelists were enthusiastic about the opportunity created by the stimulus, but also noted the government's challenge of getting the money out the door in an effective and efficient manner.
Some highlights from the event:
GE's film clip
highlighting a smart grid project in Oklahoma
An appearance by
Carol Browner
, President Obama's senior energy official in the White House, who noted with delight the packed crowd of over 450 people
Former astronaut and current Googler,
Ed Lu
, making the case for open standards and user access to energy information on our technology panel
Our very own Dan Reicher shamelessly punning that "we want to help build a
fridge
to the 21st century," a play on
Bill Clinton's '96 campaign mantra
To stay plugged into our energy information campaign and learn about developments along the road to a smarter grid, be sure to
join our Google Group
.
UPDATE:
Watch the
event video
on YouTube.
Power to the people
Monday, February 9, 2009
Posted by Ed Lu, Engineering team
(Cross-posted from the
Official Google Blog
)
[As Google expands its clean energy advocacy, we will be doing more in Washington to bring the perspective of our users and the voice of experts into the policy debate. Join us next Tuesday at our DC office for "Plug Into the Smart Grid," an event co-hosted with General Electric, to discuss a smart power future and what it will take to get there. Learn more and
RSVP here
. --Harry Wingo, Google Policy Counsel]
Imagine how hard it would be to stick to a budget in a store with no prices. Well, that's pretty much how we buy electricity today. Your utility company sends you a bill at the end of the month with very few details. Most people don't know how much electricity their appliances use, where in the house they are wasting electricity, or how much the bill might go up during different seasons. But in a world where everyone had a detailed understanding of their home energy use, we could find all sorts of ways to save energy and lower electricity bills. In fact,
studies show
that access to home energy information results in savings between 5-15% on monthly electricity bills. It may not sound like much, but if half of America's households cut their energy demand by 10 percent, it would be the equivalent of taking eight million cars off the road.
Google’s mission is to "organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful," and we believe consumers have a right to detailed information about their
home electricity use
. We're tackling the challenge on several fronts, from policy advocacy to developing consumer tools, and even investing in smart grid companies. We've been participating in the dialogue in Washington, DC and with public agencies in the U.S. and other parts of the world to advocate for investment in the building of a "smart grid," to bring our 1950s-era electricity grid into the digital age. Specifically, to provide both consumers and utilities with real-time energy information, homes must be equipped with advanced energy meters called "smart meters." There are currently about 40 million smart meters in use worldwide, with plans to add another 100 million in the next few years.
But deploying smart meters alone isn't enough. This needs to be coupled with a strategy to provide customers with easy access to energy information. That's why we believe that open protocols and standards should serve as the cornerstone of smart grid projects, to spur innovation, drive competition, and bring more information to consumers as the smart grid evolves. We believe that detailed data on your personal energy use belongs to you, and should be available in an open standard, non-proprietary format. You should control who gets to see your data, and you should be free to choose from a wide range of services to help you understand it and benefit from it. For more details on our policy suggestions, check out the
comments
we filed yesterday with the California Public Utility Commission.
In addition to policy advocacy, we're building consumer tools, too. Over the last several months, our engineers have developed a software tool called
Google PowerMeter
, which will show consumers their home energy information almost in real time, right on their computer. Google PowerMeter is not yet available to the public since we're
testing it out
with Googlers first. But we're
building partnerships
with utilities and independent device manufacturers to gradually roll this out in pilot programs. Once we've had a chance to kick the tires, we'll make the tool more widely available.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to providing consumers with detailed energy information. And it will take the combined efforts of federal and state governments, utilities, device manufacturers, and software engineers to empower consumers to use electricity more wisely by giving them access to energy information.
Back to the energy future
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Posted by Alice Ryan, Green Energy Project Manager
(Cross-posted from the
Official Google Blog
)
In 1979 President Jimmy Carter installed 32 solar hot water panels on the roof of the White House. Recently a Googler from our Washington D.C. office asked the question, "What ever happened to the Carter panels?" After a little digging, we were able to track down the original panels to
Unity College
, an environmental college in Maine, and bring one of them back to Washington D.C.
So what ever happened to the panels? It turns out that during President Reagan's administration the solar hot water panels were removed from the White House in 1986 and placed in storage. In 1992, Unity College located the panels and transferred them from a General Services Administration warehouse to their campus in Maine. After restoration,16 panels provided their cafeteria with hot water for the next 12 years. In cooperation with Unity College, Google was able to bring one of these panels down to our Washington DC office for display throughout the next year.
At the panels' dedication in 1979, Jimmy Carter stated:
"This dependence on foreign sources of oil is of great concern to all of us. In the year 2000, this solar water heater behind me, which is being dedicated today, will still be here supplying cheap, efficient energy. A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people." (To watch video of the dedication, check out this
trailer
for a movie about the panels).
As we welcome our new U.S. president to office this week, we wanted to share this piece of this history with you. Google is committed to a
clean energy future
and we hope that you will join us in supporting the creation and adoption of renewable energy technology — what could still be one of the greatest and most exciting adventures for all of us.
Check out these photos of the panels at Unity College and at Google's Washington DC office.
Powering a Google search
Monday, January 12, 2009
Posted by Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President, Operations
(Cross-posted from the
Official Google Blog
)
Not long ago, answering a query meant traveling to the reference desk of your local library. Today, search engines enable us to access immense quantities of useful information in an instant, without leaving home. Tools like email, online books and photos, and video chat all increase productivity while decreasing our reliance on car trips, pulp and paper.
But as computers become a bigger part of more people's lives, information technology consumes an increasing amount of energy, and Google takes this impact seriously. That's why we have designed and built the
most
energy efficient data centers
in the world, which means the energy used per Google search is minimal. In fact, in the time it takes to do a Google search, your own personal computer will use more energy than Google uses to answer your query.
Recently, though, others have used much higher estimates, claiming that a typical search uses "half the energy as boiling a kettle of water" and produces 7 grams of CO2. We thought it would be helpful to explain why this number is *many* times too high. Google is fast — a typical search returns results in less than 0.2 seconds. Queries vary in degree of difficulty, but for the average query, the servers it touches each work on it for just a few thousandths of a second. Together with other work performed before your search even starts (such as building the search index) this amounts to 0.0003 kWh of energy per search, or 1 kJ. For comparison, the average adult needs about 8000 kJ a day of energy from food, so a Google search uses just about the same amount of energy that your body burns in ten seconds.
In terms of greenhouse gases, one Google search is equivalent to about 0.2 grams of CO2. The current EU standard for tailpipe emissions calls for 140 grams of CO2 per kilometer driven, but most cars don't reach that level yet. Thus, the average car driven for one kilometer (0.6 miles for those in the U.S.) produces as many greenhouse gases as a thousand Google searches.
We've made great strides to reduce the energy used by our data centers, but we still want clean and affordable sources of electricity for the power that we do use. In 2008 our philanthropic arm,
Google.org
, invested $45 million in breakthrough clean energy technologies. And last summer, as part of our Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal initiative (
RE
), we created an internal engineering group dedicated to exploring clean energy.
We're also working with other members of the IT community to improve efficiency on a broader scale. In 2007 we co-founded the
Climate Savers Computing Initiative
, a group which champions more efficient computing. This non-profit consortium is committed to cutting the energy consumed by computers in half by 2010 — reducing global CO2 emissions by 54 million tons per year. That's a lot of kettles of tea.
Eric Schmidt speaks about solutions for energy security
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Posted by Jamie Yood, Google.org Team
(Cross-posted from the
Official Google.org Blog
)
Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke last Thursday at a Natural Resources Defense Council event held at Google offices in New York. The topic for the evening was "Partnership for the Earth: Strategies and Solutions for Energy Security." Eric spoke about Google's
Clean Energy 2030 plan
and the importance of rebuilding America's energy infrastructure.
The speech was followed by a panel discussion featuring Frances Beinecke, President of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Ralph Cavanaugh, co-director of NRDC's energy program, and Dan Reicher, Director of Climate Change and Energy Initiatives at Google.org.
You can check out the talk here:
Labels
Accessibility
5
Ad
2
Advertising
11
AdWords
2
Anti-defamation league
1
Book Search
16
Broadband
11
Business Issues
26
Buzz
1
buzzemail
1
Canada
1
Child Safety
18
Chrome
1
Cloud Computing
2
Competition
19
Congress
10
Constitute
1
copyright
7
Cuba
1
Cybersecurity
9
D.C. Talks
16
Digital Due Process
1
Digital Playbook
1
Economic Impact
5
Economy
13
ECPA
4
Elections
24
email
1
Energy Efficiency
29
Europe
2
FCC
7
fellowship
2
Fighting Human Trafficking
1
Free Expression
54
Geo
1
Gmail
1
GNI
2
Good to Know
5
Google Fellow
2
Google for Entrepreneurs
1
Google Ideas
2
Google Maps
1
Google Policy Fellowship
1
Google Tools
78
Government Transparency
33
Hate Speech
1
Health
5
How Google Fights Piracy
1
Human trafficking
1
Identity theft
1
Immigration
1
Intellectual Property
19
International
46
Journalists
1
Malware
1
Maps
1
National Consumer Protection Week
1
Net Neutrality
24
Patents
5
piracy. ad networks
2
Politicians at Google
11
Politics
23
Privacy
93
Public Policy
1
Public Policy Blog
806
Safe Browsing
3
scams
1
search
3
Security
17
Small Businesses
3
spectrum
4
State Issues
5
Surveillance
6
Technology for Good
1
Telecom
71
Trade
3
Transparency Report
4
White Spaces
23
WiFi Network
1
Workforce
5
Yahoo-Google Deal
5
YouTube
4
YouTube for Government
1
Archive
2016
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
2015
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2012
Dec
Nov
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2011
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2010
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2009
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2008
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2007
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Feed
Follow @googlepubpolicy
Give us feedback in our
Product Forums
.
