Google investing hundreds of millions in green energy

Google announced it will invest hundreds of millions of dollars in ways to make "green" energy less costly than that from pollution-spewing coal.

The Google initiative is dubbed "RE "I know it seems a little bit geeky, but it is a good description," Google co-founder Larry Page said of the name while discussing the initiative in a conference call with reporters. "We want to rapidly push forward, produce a gigawatt of power, and have it done in years not decades. We feel if we can do it at that scale we could do it at a level significant in the world."

A gigawatt of power is enough to power a city the size of San Francisco, according to Google. The US-based Internet colossus said it will invest in advanced solar, wind and geothermal power systems along with other technologies promising potential breakthroughs. It expects to hire 20 to 30 engineers with expertise in energy. "We have gained expertise in designing and building large-scale, energy-intensive facilities by building efficient data centers," Page said.

"We want to apply the same creativity and innovation to the challenge of generating renewable electricity at globally significant scale, and produce it cheaper than from coal." Coal is burned to produce 40 percent of the world's electricity and is a major source of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming.

"Cheap renewable energy is not only critical for the environment but also vital for economic development in many places where there is limited affordable energy of any kind," said Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Google's founders said there are budding technologies that can flourish with the proper backing.