WHAT GOOGLE WANTS

Google’s Energy Foray: What’s Up?
Sindya N. Bhanoo, May 5, 2010 (NY Times)

"…Google is explicit about its mission ‘to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.’

"Now it is laying out plans to become a leader in capturing, owning, tracking and trading energy. Recently the company announced a $38.8 million investment in two wind farm projects in North Dakota…The project is being led by NextEra, one of the nation’s largest owners of wind farms…Google also won federal approval in February to buy and sell electricity on American electricity markets. And the company offers tools for measuring the electricity consumption of home appliances…"

The Google tool for collecting energy information. (click to enlarge)

"…[Google says] ventures like the wind farms, beyond speeding the deployment of clean energy technology, could provide ‘attractive returns’ and ‘more capital for developers to build additional projects.’"

What's she up to? (click to enlarge)

"Connect the dots, and Google is up to something, said Tim Stephure, an analyst at IHS Emerging Energy Research, a market research firm…

"But how these energy investments will fit into the company’s broader mission to use data is hard to say [but]…It’s possible that greater access to data on consumer energy usage could prove as valuable as the keywords in Gmail or in Google search are in matching advertisers."