ANOTHER green fail Google quits

[lostinblue 1,989]

Google quits plans to make cheap renewable energy Says other institutions better placed to carry on effort

Announces six other projects it will cease supporting

By Alexei Oreskovic

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Google Inc has abandoned an ambitious project to make renewable energy cheaper than coal, the latest target of Chief Executive Larry Page's moves to focus the Internet giant on fewer efforts.

Google said on Tuesday that it was pulling the plug on seven projects, including Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal as well as a Wikipedia-like online encyclopedia service known as Knol.

The plans, which Google announced on its corporate blog, represent the third so-called "spring cleaning" announcement that Google has made since Google co-founder Page took the reins in April.

The changes come as Google is facing stiff competition in mobile computing and social networking from Apple Inc and Facebook, and as some investors have groused about rising spending at the world's No.1 Internet search company.

"To recap, we're in the process of shutting down a number of products which haven't had the impact we'd hoped for, integrating others as features into our broader product efforts, and ending several which have shown us a different path forward," wrote Google Senior Vice President of Operations Urs Holzle in the blog post.

Google said that it believed other institutions were better positioned to take its renewable energy efforts "to the next level."

Google began making investments and doing research into technology to drive down the price of renewable energy in 2007, with a particular focus on solar power technology.

In 2009, the company's so-called Green Energy Czar, Bill Weihl, told Reuters that he expected to demonstrate within a few years working technology that could produce renewable energy at a cheaper price than coal.

"It is even odds, more or less," Weihl said at the time. "In three years, we could have multiple megawatts of plants out there."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/23/google-idUSN1E7AL1X520111123

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Google said it is dropping development of “solar thermal” electricity because solar thermal cannot keep pace with the rapid price decline of another solar technology – photovoltaics. The solar thermal cut came as part of Google’s decision to axe its 4-year old Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal initiative, although other renewable programs remained intact.

“The installed cost of solar photovoltaic technology has declined dramatically over the past few years, making solar photovoltaic technology a compelling choice for consumers,” Google Fellow and senior vice president of operations Urs Hölzle said in a blog post.

Technology and the market working together....imagine that.

[Danno 1,228]

Some Green fails are even sadder.

A few years back Neil Young was trying to develop an Electric car of his own, unfortunately it caught fire while in storage and not only burned the car and building but items of Rock and Roll history.

[SuperDuper! 230]

People familiar with Google knows that it will QUIT a new project at a drop of a hat if it does not produce immediate results.

It's strategy is to pursue 100 grand projects, and expect 5% of them to be huge and profitable. If the other 95% fails, then so be it. Just cut the losses quick when the writing is on the wall. Can you comprehend it?

[Neonred 3,636]

People familiar with Google knows that it will QUIT a new project at a drop of a hat if it does not produce immediate results.

It's strategy is to pursue 100 grand projects, and expect 5% of them to be huge and profitable. If the other 95% fails, then so be it. Just cut the losses quick when the writing is on the wall. Can you comprehend it?

Looks like good business sense to me.