“The FERC, the agency with oversight of the U.S. power grid, signed an order on Thursday that grants Google Energy market-based rate authorization,” Lombardi reports.
“The order specifically grants Google Energy–a subsidiary of Google–the rights ‘for the sale of energy, capacity, and ancillary services at market-based rates’ while acknowledging that neither Google Energy nor its affiliates ‘own or control any generation or transmission’ facilities,” Lombardi reports. “Google has expressed a desire for access to larger amounts of renewable energy to help produce the electricity it consumes as part of its vast search-engine empire. Google has long maintained that its goal is to become a carbon-neutral company. As a side note, it’s not unusual for large companies to be granted the authority to trade in the wholesale electricity market for the purpose of managing their own energy costs.”
Lombardi reports, “But it seems that Google may actually enter the energy business. The search giant formed the Delaware-based subsidiary called Google Energy in December and when asked about it, hinted at a future in energy… In the lead-up to the recent Copenhagen summit on climate change, Google hosted its own energy conference in November that included leading energy experts and the U.S. undersecretary of energy.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “HMCIV” for the heads up.]
Hey, it worked for Enron (aka The Smartest Guys in the Room)!!!
Man, every move this company makes these days just causes my eyebrow to arch higher and higher… They are up to something, and I don’t like the smell of it.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… Google Must Be Stopped!!!!!! 12/21/12 Google becomes Self Aware!
Energy is their biggest operating expense.
Bow down knowingly NOW and worship our new future overlords or go to the wall and take your chances when Google inevitably applies for office as a corporate entity and takes over the US.
Spare me oh great chosen ones!
Bing doesn’t seem that bad now does it….
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It’s just the free market at work.
I always thought the consensus view here is that nobody would want the federal government to get in the way of commerce,
So live with it.
“Google Earth” doesn’t mean what you think it means…
@ MCCFR – If you think there’s a “consensus view” on this site, you clearly haven’t been reading any of the comments.
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I think I liked “stipped” better.
And yes, they do everything they can to reduce their energy consumption and operating costs. I expect GM, Ford, and Verizon do as well.
@MCCFR
MCCFR, you’re confusing the “consensus view” with MDN’s typical right wing view.
That’s why there’s no MDN Take as they can’t criticise Google without criticising capitalism.
@Google Subserviant
Two thumbs up for that one!
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@Google Subserviant
If you accept your opinion as true, then you also have to respect MDN for not offering a snarky anti-Google take.
@Spark
Ok I agree there too.
What is happening here? When did everyone suddenly become so reasonable?
“search-engine empire”
At least they’re admitting that they’ve go over to the dark side.
OMG — GOOGLERON!! Ah, so nice to see them taking their eye off the ball and getting into a nice commodity business.
I hope Google gets into making cars, household appliances of every kind, solar panels, rain water-recycling devices, insurance, healthcare, garbage-collection, clothing, and farming. That will hopefully link these things by computer to make things free, except for your time wasted with advertising. They’ve got their fingers in a lot of pies now, might as go all the way.
@Toasty
@Sparky
Funnily enough I agree as well! It’s MDN’s right to say and think whatever they wish as it’s their blog and no one is forced to come here. Hence they made the smart decision by not having a Take for this article for fear of looking hypocritical.
Who would’ve thought it? People agreeing on MDN! I’m sure there’ll be plenty of “Palin’s retarded” and “Hussein’s a Marxist” comments in the next thread…
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Oops, I meant “@Spark” not “@Sparky”. Although Sparky does sound cooler…
I finally figured it out. Google is aiming to become Wesayso. No doubt with the same result in the end.
“Again!”
@ darkness
lmfao google earth doesn’t mean what u think lol I love it!
Every electron they supply to you will contain a special tracking quark so they can determine when you’re using your iPhone, vacuum cleaner, or personal hygiene devices.
Probably getting ready for the future of high-speed Internet. Google as an ISP……providing power + internet via powerline bundles.
Google sell whatever you need too – just get enough money to buy apple and bring Pandora streaming to the iPhone!!
IT’S A-L-I-V-E!!!
They didn’t call it Android for nothing
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Since Google has Eric Schmidt on it’s team they could have gone ahead just using their own wind power!
Did someone say Enron?
So much for Google having a focused manifesto. I see dumdum stuff in their future.
If Apple announced this people would be flipping out. Heck, if I was a Google shareholder I’d be flipping out. Seriously, going outside your core competency much? Let’s just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks, shall we? Maybe it’ll work for them, but it seems nuts to go this far from what they do best.
It’s just the free market at work.
So was Hitler.
The lack of understanding of large business energy process exhibited in the comments here is just stunning.
“So was Hitler.”
WTF?
Excellent decision by the FERC! Let’s hope Google does for energy what it’s done for search, e-mail, chat, and phones. Google will start by buying its own renewable energy, but hopefully move into consumer power as well.
Researching how to make your company, product, or next project more Green? Go to http://www.greencollareconomy.com for sustainability white papers and the largest b2b green directory on the web.
generic Casey Verdant sez: “Google does for energy what it’s done for search, …blahblahblah… hopefully move into consumer power as well.”
OMFG.
Green is great.
Going off your company’s manifesto is suicidal. Been there, seen that, watched it kill Kodak.
Steve is right…
the Don’t Be Evil phrase is utter bullshit.
Google doesn’t know when to stop.
It’s not a question of evolving to match changing conditions or about helping them meet their own increasingly large energy needs, although internally this is what they tell themselves. They feel as if they need to keep growing to live. They no longer live by the creed they began with. How much is enough? At what point do they reach the limit of their growth? Or is it now so driven by their own momentum that they basically become the equivalent of a nation-state, complete with ambassadors, embassies, and their board of directors becoming more like a cabinet or if you prefer a board of commisars. They are moving in exactly the opposite direction they should. If you look around at the Eat Local movement, the Small Government movement, and many other social memes growing in strength daily they are becoming a leviathan with operations in almost every nation, hands in every business, every home, every institution, every media, every mind.
And we’ve let them do it.
Watch CBS’s sixty minutes:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6228923n&tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel
You can figure it out.