back to article Google to save US from fossil fuels

And we thought Google's work with NASA and private space entrepreneurs was part of a secret plan to escape the Earth before it's too late. Turns out the leading internet ad firm has been devising a plan to save those stuck planet-side as well. Google controls between 55 and 65 percent of the search market--and its share is …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Chris G

    Geothermal ? Excellent idea

    Let California lead the way with a few underground nukes in the San Andreas Fault , if Western Cal' separates from the rest of the US there should be a large molten lava river to provide lots of geothermal.

    Where are Google's offices by the way?

  2. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge
    Black Helicopters

    Squish

    Google HQ is along side the San Francisco Bay in an area of wetlands converted into golf courses, dumps, salt ponds, a decommissioned yet highly active military airfield, defense contractor offices and test facilities, combat training facilities, giant antennas, a movie theater complex, an amphitheater, multi-use trails, and office space.

  3. Finko Bastawank
    Flame

    Google will save us all !

    Surely all the hot air coming out of the Googlestag would solve all our energy problems ?

  4. Charles Manning

    Technology in not the answer

    Carpooling immediately makes a Hummer as good as a Prius.

    The problem is not the technology, it's just that people don't want to change their ways.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Carpooling makes a Hummer...

    "Carpooling makes a Hummer as good as a Prius" says Charles.

    Er, Charles, what happens if two Priuses are in the carpool instead of two Hummers? Hummer => FAIL.

    The problem is not the technology, it's the Hummer addict with his head in the (tar) sand.

    Should be interesting to see what's left of the SUV-centric US motor industry in a couple of years, once the impact of $100 oil and the credit crunch has trickled through to even the thickest-skinned of petrolheads.

  6. Dave

    anyone watched resident evil....

    Google = umbrella corporation

  7. Paul Slater
    Thumb Up

    Bring it on

    If a company as savvy and well known as Google is willing to start a debate on these issues, then it's all good. Anything that gets sustainability issues into the hearts and minds of the great unwashed is very welcome.

    All they need to do now is shut down Google AdWords, which persuades people to buy crap they don't need. The problem is not so much to do with alternative sources of energy or transport, but with a wholescale reduction in the use of both. Move closer to work. Take a holiday that doesn't involve flying. Don't buy that new gadget, or upgrade that perfectly useful one you have in your pocket/desk/office.

  8. Dr Stephen Jones
    Stop

    Corporate welfare for the Big G.

    The punchline:

    "We must dramatically increase federal R&D"

    Google knows that these days pork barrels are painted a tasteful green. Since Google is the most tasteful company on the planet, the pork must go to Google.

    Not that the US will have any spare money after bailing out the bankrupt bankers, so hurry boys, hurry!

    (Which explains the timing).

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @ Paul Slater

    Paul -

    Take a cold shower, buy a hair shirt, and make sure you whip yourself at least twice a day, reciting "I am a carbon-emitting fallen child of Gaia, kill me now Mother Earth!"

    That's what I call a sustainable lifestyle. Hopefully it won't leave you much time to tell us how to be miserable.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    yeah, riiiiiight

    So google is so worried....i guess so, they're using so much power they had Iowa pass a special law to make sure their own ginormous leccy use there for a new data center didn't become public knowledge....ha ha....two faced to say the least. Who can say that California building code is better than anyone else's building code...maybe for earthquakes, but those suckers sure burn to a crisp quick....what about a little fire resistance?; what about not building on hills and having mudslides carry all the homes downhill....yeah, i forgot; some great building code they must have there....tards

    geothermal at least has something going for it....it MIGHT be renewable (or at least not depleteable)...wind, sun, wave...all depend on those conditions being present all the time in a constant level of availability. (please, no nuclear-tard rants about running out of uranium).

    people are not yet prepared to give up their lives and go back and live in caves. I have no buses near me in any way, shape, or form that would be able to get me to work in the 20 minutes it takes to drive there (and riding a bicycle is like an invitation to death). I'm not prepared to pay twice as much for the privilege of buying a battery powered car that gets "maybe" enough miles on it to get me to work and back home and then sit there and charge all day for the same thing again tomorrow...that's plain stupid. maybe my little corolla isn't the most efficient car on the market, but it's damn sight more convenient to me and the sprog and better half for getting around in when needed.

    you want to put some of your money into oled and led lighting...go for it googlers...that at least shows some promise for cutting leccy use.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Google In Any Colour You Want

    How about a black colour scheme? I know some site somewhere has already done it.

    @ AC 23:44 : Actually it seems to be that sort of lifestyle that *IS* making people miserable. I know, I know people who have "unplugged" from a consumtion-for-the-sake-of-it lifestyle. They've gained a lot. Oh, and they still have broadband and all the other "mod cons" that are genuine advances of civilisation.

    And they'll still have all the luxuries they need when the perpetual-debt economy implodes and you sit rocking and mumbling in the corner of a New World Disorder soup kitchen clutching your Bigmouth Billy Bass and an iPod shuffle.

  12. Solomon Grundy

    Fuzzy Math

    This sort of Math is what has drive the world to the edge of economic oblivion. To make calculations based on today and intentionally ignore tomorrow because it's "unknown", therefore not a factor in the calculations.

    Based on historical company value data Google share value will begin to decline rapidly in the next few years...Everybody thinks they are immortal, but those are the same people that bought into StarBucks...Paying a premium for a limited return doesn't work with consumers too long - The result being that Google won't have the money to bring their plan to fruition by the time their deadline arrives. My money says they are anticipating this and setting there selves up to ask for Fed Money when the time comes.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Paul Slater

    Interesting phrase

    "Anything that gets sustainability issues into the hearts and minds of the great unwashed is very welcome"

    Shame the great unwashed refers to the poor lower classes. Those tha can't afford 8 litre gas guzzlers (or even cars), 9 tv's, 4 computers, 3 iPods, 2 fridges, bottles of imported wine, flights abroad.If anything the great unwashed are more eco friendly than the middle classes, who like to pretend they are green.

    Until the US realises that you don't need to drive across the road, but you can WALK, then the world is doomed. And yes on my Visit to the states, I did see people driving less than 200m.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The green unwashed?

    "If anything the great unwashed are more eco friendly than the middle classes, who like to pretend they are green."

    However, poorer people tend not to have the money to spend on double glazing and other home insulation, and boiler upgrades. Their landlords don't have any incentive to spend that money. So they spend far more (money and carbon) than they should on heating the house and water.

    Not that this is their fault, per se, and making them more aware is largely pointless.

  15. DZ-Jay

    Not *everything* yet...

    >> "In case Google's work with mobile phones, word processing, web browsers, disease prevention, encyclopedias, email, watercraft, cartography, and humanitarian aide hasn't driven home Google's aspirations to have its hand in absolutely everything, try a new $4.4 trillion energy plan on for size."

    It'll finally sink in when I see Google-branded chips at the corner store. (Er, that's "crisps" for you brits.)

    -dZ.

  16. Elmer Phud
    Flame

    Bah, humbug etc. (twat-o-meter)

    Hows about not polluting our cities with their stealth cars that are reading the brainwaves of normal people and putting stuff in our heads . Something must be done to protect our children from this constant stealth attack, filling our heads with the idea that Obama is a good guy and that Palin is just a no-good bear hater who wants her family to have all the good jobs.

    My dad didn't fight the Germans just so we could be all brainwashed by a bunch of yanks --SOMETHING MUST BE DONE

  17. John
    Alert

    surely...

    Switching off all these computers that make up the interweb would be a start, but I would have to obtain something I think is called "a life". Joking apart though, I find it ironic that these green initiatives involve vast amounts of number crunching exclude computer models as they need computers to run on, which are made of plastic that is derived from oil, and other metallic stuff which has to be mined or acquired from recycling. I'm aware of the RoHS and the WEEE directives, but no one seems to have audited the various CO2 emissions of the manufacture and use of computers. Surely this needs to be factored into the equation too.

    @DZ - mine's a bag of cheese & onion.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Green branding equals "Greenbacks"

    You have to wonder how Google upper-management let so many of the eco-nutters

    infiltrate their ranks...But then again I almost applied there for the following position:

    "Director of Other", on a lark...(I don't think the position has been filled yet so you can

    see if you qualify).

    So like all good companies flush with cash, R&D goes wild,

    people are hired on with no other skill set then being able to find the on/off switch on their

    laptop, and composing interoffice memos and e-mails.

    Perhaps someone can clue me in, and tell me who truly first coined the term "green".

    Along with his address...

    Thanks.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    @john

    Yeah, I know what you mean. My wife has been talking about my wee directive which is right here in front of me, but we all know it's the cold weather.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like