Google & GE Team Up to Go Green
Expanding and improving the United States’ electrical transmission grid would be a major building block in creating an electrical supply that is reliable, efficient and clean. The move to make that happen got a new ally today: Google. The internet giant has announced that it will be partnering with GE to work on both the technological side of the problem as well as the policy angle.
During the Google Zeitgeist conference in Mountain View, Calif., Google CEO Eric Schmidt interviewed GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt onstage about the maturity of renewable energy technologies and current policies. Schmidt said that the two companies will push for government programs to modernize the electrical grid, which would enable broader use of renewable energy.
GE and Google will work on utility software to make the grid more
efficient, and on software for home smart-grid equipment, Immelt said.
The two firms will develop software to help utilities better control
plug-in hybrid cars, which can be used to deliver power onto the grid
during peak times. A flexible power grid is important because some
researchers have concluded that an onrush of plug-in vehicles could
strain the grid and lead to construction of more power plants.
In the area of geothermal, GE and Google will create visualization software and power conversion technology.
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