To many of us Google is synonymous with Internet searching. Well, Google the company also wants to be known for its green ways.
According to a Google press release, the company has launched a new initiative to develop cheap electricity from renewable sources:
The newly created initiative will focus initially on advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, enhanced geothermal systems and other potential breakthrough technologies. [The initiative] is hiring engineers and energy experts to lead its research and development work, which will begin with a significant effort on solar thermal technology, and will also investigate enhanced geothermal systems and other areas. In 2008, Google expects to spend tens of millions on research and development and related investments in renewable energy. As part of its capital planning process, the company also anticipates investing hundreds of millions of dollars in breakthrough renewable energy projects which generate positive returns.
“We have gained expertise in designing and building large-scale, energy-intensive facilities by building efficient data centers,” said Larry Page, Google Co-founder and President of Products. “We want to apply the same creativity and innovation to the challenge of generating renewable electricity at globally significant scale, and produce it cheaper than from coal.”
It looks like Google will use solar and wind energy as a large part of that plan:
Google.org will make strategic investments and grants that demonstrate a path toward producing energy at an unsubsidized cost below that of coal-fired power plants. Google will work with a variety of organizations in the renewable energy field, including companies, R&D laboratories, and universities. For example, Google.org is working with two companies that have promising scalable energy technologies:
* eSolar Inc., a Pasadena, CA-based company specializing in solar thermal power which replaces the fuel in a traditional power plant with heat produced from solar energy. eSolar’s technology has great potential to produce utility-scale power cheaper than coal.
* Makani Power Inc., an Alameda, CA-based company developing high-altitude wind energy extraction technologies aimed at harnessing the most powerful wind resources. High-altitude wind energy has the potential to satisfy a significant portion of current global electricity needs.
The Biodiesel Finance & Investment Summit, January 14th-16th, 2008 in New York, NY, will feature Martin Tobias, the president of biodiesel giant Imperium Renewables, as one of three keynote speakers. Joining Tobias will be James W. Eiler, Managing Director, First National Investment Banking and Gene Gebolys, President and CEO of World Energy Alternatives.
* What the financing market will look like in 2008
A truck that runs on biodiesel made from waste chocolate and that I featured during 
Propelled by the unique biodisel, they expect to take about three weeks to drive the 4,500 miles to Timbuktu from London, planning to make it to Timbuktu on December 16.
“It is no secret ethanol production is growing at a record pace, but equally important is the significant increase in public use and acceptance of e10 and e85. Part of what is driving this is a new awareness of ethanol from coast to coast that didn’t exist even two years ago. EPIC, under Tom’s able leadership, has played a major role in this ethanol awakening,” said Steve Ruh, president of ICGA of Sugar Grove. 
ILGA also presented its Ethanol Innovation Award to David M. Christopher, Executive Vice President Finance and Marketing for Gas City, Ltd.
The Midwest is getting three new ethanol production plants. 
Washington Group will provide procurement, construction, commissioning, and start-up services for the facilities in Wahoo, Neb., and Red Oak and Council Bluffs, Iowa. Each of the facilities will be capable of producing 110 million gallons of ethanol per year. The corn-based ethanol will be blended with unleaded gasoline to create motor fuel, and the plant will produce commercially viable products in corn gluten feed and meal, corn germ, and wet and dry distiller grains with solubles.
Bob Dinneen, president of the 
TPI will begin construction next week on a 316,000-square-foot wind turbine blade factory.
Linc Energy and Bio Clean Coal announced the creation of the company last week and said they would spend $1 million over the next year to build a prototype bioreactor.
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus is hosting an energy, economic and environmental – or E3 – conference this week.