When I was looking around for material to blog about in this post I stumbled on some interesting news and opinions regarding the hunt by traditional tech companies in silicon valley for investment and research opportunities regarding renewable energy. One can understand their fears when one looks at what has become a massive issue in the collective mind of mankind. Judging by the scientific data coming out at the moment it looks like a sure bet that we are in for some rocky times environmentally speaking and the financial incentives are becoming increasingly apparent to those capable of doing research and offering solutions.

Solutions vary from industrial pollutant filtering to solar and wind power generation capacity. South Africa recently announced that it will not respond to requests to rather opt for renewable or even nuclear power instead of cheaper but much more environmentally unfriendly coal fired power stations. We might live to regret the latter decision but one can understand the resentment from the South African government’s point of view. It is just too easy for the developed world to sit there and dictate we use more expensive power generation technologies when they had all the opportunity in the world to build their economies on the back of smoke spewing coal fired stations.

On the other hand, hindsight is always perfect and they did not have the information we have at our disposal today. The South African government as justified as they are in their query of the requests, might not have a choice and could well end up ruing its decision in a couple of decades. Let’s hope they won’t have to but the risk is there. If you have ever taken the opportunity to get up close and personal with a coal fired power station you will know that it is a messy and terribly dirty business. Do yourself a favor and go look where they get rid of the ash. Coal is nasty! It is also useful, but nasty.
Silicon Valley will have to respond and adjust their product research profile to cash in on the green and sustainability drive. They are in a perfect position to do so as many of Silicon Valley’s traditional monster companies have tons of cash available to do quality research. Google is one company that two years ago already proclaimed its intentions to enter the field of affordable renewable energy research and perhaps provisioning. You cannot deny it, Google has an eye for the interesting!

The latest news from Google is that they are working on a new mirror for solar power. They are disappointed with the lack of breakthrough investment in green technology and indicated this past Friday that they have committed resources to develop a better, more efficient and above all, cheaper solution to solar power generation. If I were the power utility companies across the globe, I would be worried that Google doesn’t start providing power for free. Nicola Tesla could do it, but General Electric apparently bought the rights to free power. Now it is not so free at all. Do yourself a favor and go Google Nicola Tesla and the incredible work the man did in the field of electricity and power generation.

Google is focused on solar thermal solutions where the sun’s energy is used to heat up a substance that produces steam to turn a turbine. Mirrors are used for this method in order to focus the sun’s rays onto the heated substance. The current cost of setting up a large installation to generate power on mass costs millions of US Dollars. Chief in charge of green energy at Google, Bill Weihl, said Google is looking to cut the cost of making heliostats, the fields of mirrors that have to track the sun, by at least a factor of two, “ideally a factor of three or four.”

“Typically what we’re seeing is $2.50 to $4 a watt (for) capital cost,” Weihl said. “So a 250 megawatt installation would be $600 million to a $1 billion. It’s a lot of money.” That works out to 12 to 18 cents a kilowatt hour. What is interesting is that Google plans to have a viable solution on trial within months inside the organization.

This is not all that they are investing in, and they are also not alone in the drive for green either. Let’s hope Silicon Valley and other tech regions around the globe get things right and save us all the pain and sorrow as predicted if global warming continues.