Do you use your computer all the time? Is it always plugged in, 24/7? Nowadays, almost everything has been made easy by means of computers plus internet connectivity—whether for the purpose of communication, running a machine or information dissemination and entertainment.
But although the boom of technology has resulted in hugely positive things for most of the world’s population, it has also affected the environment in a negative way. The total amount of greenhouse gases created by human activities measured in units of carbon dioxide is called the carbon footprint.
Due to the increasing carbon footprint, Google has decided to make a move to change the unpleasant condition of the environment and turn it into renewable energy. Check out how Google is working to improve the environment by reducing its carbon footprint.
Aim to Renew Energy
Google has spent 2.25 billion USD on the infrastructures of data centers and facilities. These establishments had led to enormous costs for the company. It’s one of the reasons why the company tried to find alternative energy sources and types such as solar, wind and others to power up to their data centers and banks of servers located around the world. The solution Google came up with was to make 15 wind and solar investments that total to more than 1 billion USD.
Google is now using their renewable energy to power over 34% of their operations. Compared to other data centers, Google’s data centers use only 50% of the energy because of the efficient design of their machines. As a result, they’ve saved more than a billion dollars. They plan to continue and even increase the use of alternative solutions to provide clean energy and power for their centers.
According to Google’s director of energy and sustainability Rick Needham, “We’ve invested over a billion dollars in 15 projects that have the capacity to produce two gigawatts of power around the world, mostly in the U.S., but that’s the equivalent of Hoover’s Dam worth of power generation.” The Google’s solar arrays were built in Mountain View, California.
Purchasing Carbon Offsets to Help Reduce Emissions
Carbon offset decreases the total level of greenhouse gas emissions and is an important part of diminishing the impact on climate change.
Even with struggles to build an eco-friendly renewable energy source, Google has still made things better for the environment. They’ve invested in projects that minimize carbon emissions in order help reduce the risk of climate change. Though this might vary among different factors, Google buys particularly high quality offsets so they can produce long-lasting positive impact on the environment. To ensure quality, the offsets have been verified by a third-party to confirm that the carbon reductions are credible and direct.
Google ensures that their investment will lead to positive change. They’ve even rendered services from others to reduce the emissions from a landfill near their data center. The company even makes sure to use carbon neutral products. They handpicked the candidates for utility providers they’ll be working with to help them reduce environment hazards and attain zero carbon emission.
Google’s Environment Efforts have been Recognized and Awarded
The effort and commitment of Google in investing and using renewable power has been recognized by different organizations. Not only do their efforts help reduce the negative impact to the environment, but they also discovered innovative ways to save energy. As part of this mission, Google co-founded the Climate Savers Computing Initiative in 2007 and have joined The Green Grid, which are now both considered the two global groups dedicated to providing higher efficiency and sustainability standards.
The United States Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded Google with the Green Power Leadership Award in 2011. Moreover, GreenPeace has awarded the company with the Top Rank Cool IT Leaderboard for two consecutive years.
CNN gave Google positive feedback on their environment-friendly mission: “More than 90% of Google’s revenue comes from search, but some of the company’s biggest bets are being made in seemingly unrelated fields. You’ve heard about Google’s driverless cars, virtual-reality glasses and plans for a space elevator. What’s less well-known is that the company is also a huge investor in green energy.”
Google Green for a Brighter Future
Google Green project has been made to provide clean energy in the future. They’ve invested in innovative, large-scale energy projects because they believe those can be converted into major power sources for the future. The goal is to produce high financial returns even though the company has already committed over a billion dollars to purchase wind and solar projects.