Treehugger is reporting that Google is planning to step into the solar power game, and hopes to improve the efficiency technology behind solar power from 18 cents per kilowatt hour to less than 5 cents per kilowatt hour.  

This should give the paranoid conspiracy freaks something to talk about!  Google seems to be an odd choice for creating solar power, but perhaps having dominated the internet, they feel it is time to beef up our infrastructure, as well?  I have mixed feelings, myself.  But hey, if they can do it, more power to them!   SOMEONE clearly needs to take action, because the state of solar power is frankly pretty terrible.

Solar energy is as free as it gets - it bathes our planet in enough energy to run the whole shebang for an entire day, if we were able to capture every last photon.  And yet solar power technology is still essentially stuck in the dark ages, using photovoltaic cell arrays which were developed ages ago.  And part of the problem with solar energy is that it relies heavily on battery technology.  Battery technology, alas, is still far behind the technology curve.

But let's not get sidetracked.  Google thinks it can do better, and they have an awful lot of awfully smart people there.  Google has also signaled its stance on global warming in no uncertain terms over the last few years.  They blackened their home page for Earth Hour, and collaborated with PowerMeter to devise an online power usage meter to help users track their electricity usage over the course of a day. Google also started investing in renewable energy at about the same time, presumably having seen the writing on the wall.

Google is planning to focus on solar thermal technology, rather than on the traditional photovoltaic arrays most people think of when they hear the term "solar power."  A low tech example of solar thermal power is the classic camping shower bag, which is a black rubber sack.  Simply fill the sack with water, and wait for the sun to heat it.  Photovoltaics convert solar energy directly into electricity, but solar thermal technology uses the heat to power a turbine, which then generates electricity.  Another example is a parabolic reflecter which focuses the sun's rays in order to turn water into steam - which again is then used to power a turbine, to generate electricity.

Google's entrance into the solar power market may be more important from a public relations perspective.  A lot of people are feeling a little hopeless about some of our options, or refusing to admit that there's even a problem.  If an industry leader like Google both takes these issues seriously, and builds a cool new technology, they will be almost certain to make an absolute fortune.  

And where Google goes, so goes the rest of the high tech world. I look forward to seeing every other high tech company scramble to go green, buy solar credits, move to solar powered data centers, and every other cargo cult move that inevitably happens in the wake of a big Google announcement.