A Bridge Over Troubled Waters -- Google: The Numbers Don't Work -- November 28, 2014

A huge "thank you" to a reader for alerting me to this.

Google engineers write:

Starting in 2007, Google committed significant resources to tackle the world’s climate and energy problems. A few of these efforts proved very successful: Google deployed some of the most energy-efficient data centers in the world, purchased large amounts of renewable energy, and offset what remained of its carbon footprint.

Google’s boldest energy move was an effort known as "RE to cost less than C," which aimed to develop renewable energy sources that would generate electricity more cheaply than coal-fired power plants do. The company announced that Google would help promising technologies mature by investing in start-ups and conducting its own internal R&D. Its aspirational goal: to produce a gigawatt of renewable power more cheaply than a coal-fired plant could, and to achieve this in years, not decades.

Its aspirational goal: to produce a gigawatt of renewable power more cheaply than a coal-fired plant could, and to achieve this in years, not decades.

Unfortunately, not every Google moon shot leaves Earth orbit. In 2011, the company decided that "RE to cost less than C" was not on track to meet its target and shut down the initiative. The two of us, who worked as engineers on the internal RE

At the start of "RE to cost less than C," we had shared the attitude of many stalwart environmentalists: We felt that with steady improvements to today’s renewable energy technologies, our society could stave off catastrophic climate change. We now know that to be a false hope—but that doesn’t mean the planet is doomed. . . .

Trying to combat climate change exclusively with today’s renewable energy technologies simply won’t work; we need a fundamentally different approach.

Excerpts from the essay; complete essay at the link.

[One comment at the link exposed "The Road to Germany": Google's largest renewable is tax credits.  When the sun isn't shining, or the wind not blowing, Google still expects to operate its server farms using local fossil energy.  However, when installing reversible electric meters, they avoid the capacity and transmission charges which must then be paid by other utility customers.]

A bridge over troubled waters:

Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Simon and Garfunkel