Thursday, October 02, 2008

America Is At A Tipping Point....Google's Clean Energy 2030 Proposal


America stands at a tipping point. A huge transformation and opportunity is available with the right thinking and execution.

Our country is massive and loaded with natural resources. In addition, we have the best engineers in the world that can get us out of this "hole". A drastic economic shift can occur when we go from being a sole consumer of energy to "producing" it ourselves.

With some government incentives, we have the ability to:

1. Reduce our dependence on oil

2. Utilize our own natural resources (offshore drilling, ANWR) that buys us time (and lowers prices) until renewable energy becomes grid parity or competes with coal.

3. Reduce money going to oil producing countries (terrorist nations) and keep the money within our country (massive trade deficit reduction)..higher GDP,

4. Create millions of jobs (some that include manufacturing)

5. Allow people to be producers of energy in addition to consumers of it (HUGE transformation)..imagine the income change when Joe Consumer can sell power back to the grid while he's working at his job

6. Renewable energy technologies can be licensed to other countries...instead of buying oil, we can sell our own "oil" to other countries.

7. Profits generated by renewable energy companies (instead of foreign countries) can be put back into R&D and the economy.....the money stays here in the U.S.

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Google, a company that is creating the best methods for information retrieval in the Internet Age, has fantastic insight on how to thrive in the Renewable Energy Age.

Google Public Policy outlines Google's Clean Energy 2030

Right now the U.S. has a very real opportunity to transform our economy from one running on fossil fuels to one largely based on clean energy. We are developing the technologies and know-how to accomplish this. We can build whole new industries and create millions of new jobs. We can reduce energy costs, both at the gas pump and at home. We can improve our national security.

Highlights of their proposal:

(1) Reduce demand by doing more with less
reducing energy demand through energy efficiency -- adopting technologies and practices that allow us to do more with less

(2) Develop renewable energy that is cheaper than coal We want to help catalyze the development of renewable energy that is price competitive with coal. At least three technologies show tremendous promise: wind, solar thermal, and advanced geothermal

(3) Electrify transportation and re-invent our electric grid
Much of the technology in our current electrical grid was developed in the 60s and is wasteful and not very smart

For the full Clean Energy 2030 Proposal

4 comments:

Alex Zivojinovich said...

Scott, I agree wholeheartedly. The article you posted just blew me away. The problem is our government. It will never allow for the transition because there's too much money in the status quo.

No Name said...

A record amount of VC money is being invested in renewable energy technology. Don't think that those guys haven't thought of exit strategies too.

In addition to the jobs created, trade deficit etc...this upcoming industry/sector could revitalize the investment banking industry as well.

Anonymous said...

Scott, You may want to look into Renu Energy. They have already designed an 11MW solar thermal plant for providing steam and electricity to a new Firmenich plant in India.

No Name said...

Renu Energy