I spent part of the day reading a white paper published by Google about its efforts to source 100% renewable power to run its server farms. Or data centres. Or whatever they’re called. Google has operations around the world and this year it will reach its goal of purchasing enough renewable power to meet its huge annual power demands.
Some states make it easy for Google to make Power Purchase Agreements with third parties (like a wind farm), which feed the power into the grid. Some states make it hard--you buy the fossil fuel-based electricity we're selling or you sit in the dark.
The size of Google and the number of agreements it has struck make me hopeful that hidebound utilities that are in the thrall of carbon companies may have to develop a green generation portfolio--or risk losing jobs. Trump can stump for coal all he wants (fucking troll), but many of the largest companies in America (including my nemesis Walmart) are striking agreements to buy massive amounts of solar and wind power. They love the idea of a free fuel source that doesn’t bring with it the price variability tied to oil and gas. I’m hoping the market trumps politics on the future of power generation. I’m praying the carbon stays in the ground where it belongs--solid, liquid, gas, it all needs to be stranded.
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