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Date
Well, that’s an interesting word, and I like interesting words. It means, according to Encarta, literally “generating current of voltage when illuminated.” It is further defined as “able to generate a current or voltage when exposed to visible light, or other electromagnetic radiation.” So while I have seen the word before, I never actually paid much attention to it. I’m sure it was the box for my solar garden lights. It is really a great word foto-vol-tay-ik. I wouldn’t have paid much attention to it if it wasn’t for a recent article I was reading about Google.
Google is one of those companies that we considered “Top of Their Game” in our book. It seems, from the article, that some were speculating that Google was “losing its appetite for clean power” because it had decided to stop its initiative “Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal.” But I suppose it wasn’t that Google is not interested in clean energy, it is just that that initiative had run its course. Google says that it is investing $94 million into four photovoltaic projects that Recurrent Energy is building in the Sacramento area.
So what are these projects? To paraphrase a line from Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.” The Sacramento Municipal Utility District has agreed to a 20 year deal to purchase 88 MW of solar power from Recurrent Energy. Recurrent Energy develops solar energy projects and generates clean electricity to utilities and large energy buyers. They are the primary solar development company for Sharp Corporation, and are a Sharp subsidiary. For this particular project, there are four sites south and south east of Sacramento where these solar arrays will be built. The first of the projects are scheduled to come on line in 2012.
So Google is not abandoning their search for cleaner energy, just exploring all options. But one thing that stands out in my mind is that fossil fuels will not be going away anytime soon. I applaud the efforts of the clean energy industry and their backers to explore alternate clean energy sources. I’m no fortune teller, but my tea leaves say that for the foreseeable future, energy will be provided by a combination of electricity (nuclear, solar, wind, fossil fuel plants, including wood and waste product fueled plants), natural gas, coal and oil. The key will be to increase our usage of clean energy produced (including nuclear while finding the solutions to the safety issues surrounding nuclear plants), and decrease our dependency on oil and natural gas while making those sources cleaner. We must work to decrease our dependency on the least clean energy sources, because I can’t see us totally eliminating their use.
Posted
by
Dave Shirley
on: December 27, 2011 02:30 PM |
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