Google pledges to get greener by pushing alternatives to coal-fired electric plants

The success of Google Inc. has seemed limitless, and now its executives hope to end the world's dependence on coal as a source of electric power. Executives of the giant firm, whose "server farms" use huge amounts of electricity, much of it generated by burning coal to drive steam turbines, announced Tuesday that they would be pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into a renewable energy initiative aimed at replacing coal power, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The plan is called RE<C, meaning "renewable energy cheaper than coal." The company is already getting 30 percent of the power for its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, from solar panels on the roof (in Reuters photo by Kimberly White). (Read more)

This initiative will draw upon the resources of Google.org, the company's for-profit philanthropic subdivision that owns $2 billion in Google stock, reports The New York Times. Still, some on Wall Street worry that the move could be the only thing that slows the company, Brad Stone writes. “My first reaction when I read about this was, ‘Is this a joke?’” Jordan Rohan of RBC Capital Markets told Stone. “I’ve written off Google’s competition as a threat to Google’s long-term market share gains. But I haven’t written off Google’s own ability to stretch too far and try to do too much. Ultimately, that is the biggest risk in the Google story.” But after the announcement, Google's stock rose $7.57, or 1.1 percent, to $673.57, and Stone reports that Hewlett-Packard announced Tuesday it would be installing a 1-megawatt solar system at its San Diego plant and would purchase 80 gigawatt-hours of wind energy in Ireland. (Read more)