Green Blog
A better web. Better for the environment.
Tomorrow night, turn off your lights!
3/26/10
Tomorrow from 8:30 to 9:30pm local time, hundreds of millions of people around the world will switch off their lights and participate in
Earth Hour
, the largest climate awareness event ever held. As climate change will effect people on every continent, we think a united, global call for action to address the problem is needed.
At Google we’re working hard to be part of the solution for the climate crisis. A first step was pledging to be a
carbon neutral
company. Our web-based services run in some of the world’s most
efficient data centers
, we deploy renewable energy where viable, and we buy high-quality
carbon offsets
to address the emissions we can’t otherwise eliminate.
Even with these efforts, however, there remains an urgent need for clean, affordable electricity. To that end we have a team of engineers working to develop technology breakthroughs that will help make
carbon-free
electricity an economically viable alternative to electricity from coal.
We’re also putting our experience with organizing information to work, so we can enable others to do projects in the sustainable space. We recently announced, for example,
Earth Engine
, a computational platform that enables global-scale monitoring and measurement of changes in the Earth’s forests. And we’re working with our peers through
Climate Savers Computing
to cut the power used by computers in half.
We also want to help you achieve your personal energy reduction targets. Most people don’t know their own direct energy footprint, so we launched
Google PowerMeter
to give detailed, near real-time information about home energy usage. We also like to encourage everyone to set their computer’s
power management
to avoid wasting electricity when it’s not being used.
It’s tools like Google PowerMeter that my parents wish they had years ago when I was a teenager and living under their roof. They were often exasperated to find the lights on in rooms I’d just left, and it took years for them to convince me that I could choose something to eat without standing in front of the fridge with the door wide open. The point is, I had to learn to become a steward of the environment. We can help many more people take steps toward better care of the environment, and make that learning curve easier to climb.
Turning off the lights won’t solve the climate crisis, but it’s a start. Earth Hour gives individuals a simple, meaningful way to participate in a global call for change. As U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated, “Earth Hour is a way for the citizens of the world to send a clear message — they want action on climate change.”
So I hope you’ll gather your friends and family and join me, and hundreds of millions of others, in turning off the lights. And please include the light in the fridge.
Posted by Erik Teetzel, Google GreenKeeper
Easing the development of Google PowerMeter compatible devices
3/23/10
At Google, we are encouraged to experiment and tinker to see if there is a better way of doing things. We want to encourage others in the energy monitoring space to do the same. To this end, I'd like to introduce our most recent strategic partner
Microchip
, which is a supplier of cost-effective, innovative products for the embedded developer. Today, Microchip will include as part of their developer demonstration environment the
Google PowerMeter API
library that we
recently announced
. This integration will make it much easier to create devices compatible with Google PowerMeter which means one can more quickly go from concept to demo to product.
The Google PowerMeter API is designed to work with a variety of energy monitoring devices - from utilities with smart meters, back haul networks and enterprise scale meter data management systems - to small embedded consumer devices that can send energy information directly to Google PowerMeter.
Google's belief in open source also means that the Google PowerMeter API library is available to everyone under the Apache 2.0 license. Embedded developers, tinkerers and makers are welcome to explore the code and use it in their products.
As we search for clean energy alternatives, it is important that everyone - from utilities to garage inventors - get a chance to try out new technologies and methods so that we all benefit from their inspirations.
Posted by Charles Spirakis, Google Software Engineer
Share your Power(Meter)!
3/15/10
Google PowerMeter now gives you the ability to share your data with others. What does this mean? Everyone in your household can now activate Google PowerMeter on her own personalized iGoogle page so families and roommates can all track their energy consumption online together.
You can also share your data with friends or other Google PowerMeter users to get advice on your usage, compare trends or even strike up a friendly competition to see who can save the most. After all, how can you keep up with your friends, the Joneses, when you don't know
how much they are consuming
?
Members of the Google PowerMeter team routinely compare their energy usage data and share energy saving tips and suggestions with one another.
For instance, by comparing his PowerMeter data with his friend's data during a heat wave, a fellow Googler discovered that his home air-conditioning system was consuming much more energy than his friend's system. The friend lives in the same area and in a similar sized house. By sharing this data, the Googler found out that his air conditioner was malfunctioning, and after making the necessary repairs, was able to reduce the amount he spends on electricity for air conditioning.
All sharing is completely opt-in and
your privacy
will still be protected. If you are already a Google PowerMeter user, please visit our
help center
to get started. Don't have Google PowerMeter yet? Visit
our website
to see how you can get it.
We hope that this feature sparks some interesting energy-related conversations between you and your friends!
Posted by Danan Sudindranath, Google Software Engineer
An update on Google.org and philanthropy @ Google
3/8/10
(Cross-posted from the
Google.org Blog
)
What do tracking flu, helping consumers monitor their home electricity use, slowing deforestation and perhaps most importantly in 2010, helping the people of Haiti have in common?
While they are all part of the wide-ranging work of
Google.org
over the last year, they also show what our technical teams can accomplish in critical areas that don't always get the attention they need and deserve.
A year ago we outlined our goals for
the next chapter for Google.org
. We talked about our vision to use strengths of Google in information and technology to build products and advocate for critical policies that address global challenges. Ideas for projects continue to pour in from Googlers and partners around the globe, and we're incubating several new projects in the areas of economic development, clean energy and access to technology.
This past year, we:
Ramped up
Google PowerMeter
to help consumers reduce their electricity use and save money, secured utility and device partners, and launched the API on code.google.com to help expand partner access globally.
Introduced
Earth Engine
, a new computational platform we have begun building for global-scale analysis of satellite imagery to monitor changes in key environmental indicators like forest coverage, at
COP15
in December.
Quickly expanded
Google Flu Trends
to
20 countries and 38 languages
as the H1N1 flu virus spread around the world. We also added city-level flu estimates to
121 U.S. cities
and developed the
Flu Shot Finder
to help people find vaccine locations.
Responded to earthquakes in
Haiti
and
Chile
, with maps, updated earth imagery, and networking projects, and built
Person Finder
to help people find information about their loved ones after a disaster.
Advocated for policies
to spur innovation of renewable energy technologies that are cheaper than coal (
RE<C
), and our engineers worked on ways to reduce the cost of solar thermal and other RE<C technologies.
We will continue to greenlight large scale engineering projects that build on Google's strengths in technology, our computing infrastructure and global teams.
Overall, our
philanthropic mission at Google
includes our Google.org projects and a range of other initiatives — from grants, scholarships and other charitable giving programs to in-kind product support for non-profits. Our founders have
set a goal
of devoting approximately 1% of Google's equity and yearly profits to philanthropy. In 2009, we devoted around $100 million plus in-kind giving to a broad range of philanthropic efforts. Here are some highlights:
Academic scholarships and awards
: We provide
scholarships
to encourage students of various backgrounds, ethnicities and gender to excel in their studies in hopes that these and other programs will help dismantle barriers that keep women and minorities from entering computing and technology fields.
Academic grants
: We support the next generation of engineers and maintain strong ties with academic institutions worldwide that are pursuing research in core areas relevant to our mission. We
fund projects
across a variety of subjects, host visiting faculty members at Google, and have launched the
Google Fellowship Program
to fund graduate students doing innovative research in several fields.
Holiday charitable gift
: We made $22 million in donations in 2009 to a couple of dozen deserving charities around the world to help organizations that have been stretched thin by more requests for help in a year of fewer donations.
Employee gift matching
: Google matches up to $6,000 for each employee's annual charitable contributions and contributes $50 for every five hours an employee volunteers through our "Dollars for Doers" program to encourage employee participation in charitable causes.
Charitable Giving Council
: We support grants for Googler-led partnerships on causes such as K-12 educational initiatives in science, math and technology.
Community affairs
: We invest in communities where Google has a presence around the world, creating opportunities for Googlers to invest time and expertise, engage in local grant making and build partnerships with local stakeholders.
In addition, our
Google for Non-Profits
site provides information and links to free tools to help charitable groups promote their cause, raise money, collaborate with others and operate more efficiently.
Google Grants
, for example, offers in-kind AdWords advertising to non-profit organizations. Since the program began, we've donated over $625 million worth of AdWords advertising to all kinds of charitable organizations.
To keep up with our activities, check out the
Google.org blog
.
Posted by Megan Smith, VP and General Manager, Google.org
Google PowerMeter API introduced for device manufacturers
3/3/10
(Cross-posted from
Google Code Blog
)
Today we're excited to introduce the
Google PowerMeter API
on code.google.com, for developers interested in integrating with
Google PowerMeter
. This API will allow device manufacturers to build home energy monitoring devices that work with Google PowerMeter. We're launching this API in order to help build the ecosystem of innovative developers working towards making energy information more widely available to consumers.
In today's launch of the API on code.google.com we are highlighting the core design principles towards integrating with Google PowerMeter. In particular we outline the underlying data model and the accompanying protocols to ensure that Google PowerMeter provides consumers access to their energy consumption with utmost care in maintaining the user's
privacy and control on access to the information
. We also highlight, with code samples and client implementations, how to easily start building your PowerMeter-compatible device.
Tune into
our blog
and subscribe to our
notification list
for announcements on upcoming developments. We are thrilled to bring together a rich framework to help more developers integrate with Google PowerMeter with our open, standards-based API. We are looking to expose expanded features of this framework to the developer community in the coming months.
Finally, we want your feedback! Ask questions, suggest topics, and share your stories. You can do this at the
Developer Lounge
section of the Google PowerMeter forum.
We hope you join us for the ride ahead.
Posted by Srikanth Rajagopalan, Product Manager
How much power do you use in the middle of the night?
2/2/10
"Always On" power is the lowest level of sustained power used during a day-long period. On our energy-monitoring software tool,
Google PowerMeter
, this shows up as a dark green bar on your power usage graph. We've found that American users, on average, have 589 watts of electrical power being consumed
all day long
. What items are using all this electricity?
- "Vampire loads" - appliances that don't really turn off, even when you're not actively using them
- Old appliances, especially refrigerators
- Lights that are never turned off
- Outdoor lights
- Cable box or DVR
- Computers that never turn off
- Electric water heaters
Here's the good news: It's typically very easy to reduce your Always On power. Below is a graph of a household that did just that. This household started reducing electricity use by turning off their outdoor lighting (green period) instead of leaving the lights on all day (red period). That change reduced the average Always On from 420 watts to 300 watts. That 120 watt Always On reduction can yield hundreds of dollars in estimated savings over a single year!
On January 27, 2010, almost 40% of Google PowerMeter users had Always On levels at over 500 watts. If these users reduced that amount by just 100 watts each, that's a significant cumulative savings. (Look for more of these aggregate analyses of our data in the future as we continue to learn more about how people use electricity.)
Posted by Omar Khan, Software Engineer
FCC broadband plan to call for access to real-time energy info
1/21/10
(Cross-posted from
Public Policy Blog
)
Over the past six months we have been providing you with periodic updates and
comments
on the
FCC's National Broadband Plan
, which is scheduled for release in mid-March. Earlier today FCC energy and environment director Nick Sinai gave a sneak preview of one of the Plan's key components: how broadband will facilitate smarter energy usage.
He
told an audience
at the
Clean-tech Investor Summit
that the FCC will call on States and the Congress to give consumers and consumer-authorized third parties access to real-time energy information. This kind of information could have a huge financial and environmental impact.
Studies show
that access to real-time usage data results in energy savings of up to 15%. He talked about how, combined with other measures, this information could create a platform that could lead to new products and services to help consumers manage energy. Picture it: a smart phone apps store for home energy management.
Sinai singled out for praise technologies like "smart" electricity meters and recent efforts in California to include consumer data access policies as part of a statewide smart meter roll out. (Learn more by reading
Google's comments
.) While encouraged by state-led initiatives like this, Sinai said if state efforts don't work, the FCC could recommend that Congress consider national energy data accessibility legislation.
Posted by Michael Terrell, Energy Policy Counsel
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