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Oct 27

Googleplex Solar Power Project in 3D

This article was written on May 02, 2007 by CyberNet.

Can you just imagine all of the power that the Google servers eat up in a days time. I’m sure their electric bill isn’t pretty. Google is usually on top of things though, and they are in this situation with the use of solar power, in particular “solar trees.”

Google has started a massive project of covering their campus with solar panels. Solar trees as they’re called, are solar panels that are mounted on poles and will cover the parking lots. They’ll also play the dual-role of shading the mounds of cars as well. Clever, isn’t it? Besides the solar trees, Google will also be adding solar panels to cover most of the buildings.

Once Google is done with their entire solar power project, they will have enough energy to supply 30% of the energy that they’re predicted to use which will really make a big difference. When the project is complete, they’ll be one of the largest solar-powered corporate offices in the United States.

A few days ago, Google re-posted (at one point they had the model available, but then took it down) a model of what the campus will look like when it’s all done. This is a huge project, but they’re setting a great example for the rest of corporate America, and hopefully this will make other companies look at solar options as well. While it’s expensive, it’s been said that the project will be paid off in 7.5 years and with a life-span of 20–25 years for the solar panels, they’ll have many years to benefit from them.

You can also view the proposed model in 3D by using Google Earth with this download.

Sources: TreeHugger and Google Earth Blog

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