The New Green Economy

Leadership is incredibly valuable when it comes to the values revolution and Google is stepping up to the plate with their recent announcement that their energy subsidiary, Google Energy, has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Nextra Energy.

Exhibiting a savvy understanding of green economics, the company stated,

"Through the long term purchase of renewable energy at a predetermined price, we're partially protecting ourselves against future increases in power prices. This is a case where buying green makes business sense."

Google will not be able to directly use the energy create at NextEra Energy's Iowa wind farm. They will instead sell the power on the regional spot market, where utilities and electricity retailers go to buy power when demand spikes and they have have a shortfall.

Urs Hoelzle, Google's senior vice president for operations, wrote on a blog post Tuesday,

"The inability of renewable energy developers to obtain financing has been a significant inhibitor to the expansion of renewable energy. We've been excited about this deal because taking 114 megawatts of wind power off the market for so long means producers have the incentive and means to build more renewable energy capacity for other customers."

With this bold move, google is exhibiting an understanding of and respect for future life as well as engaging the precautionary principle by investing in non-nuclear technology. And by taking responsibility for their energy needs, the Company also shows an understanding of our interdependency as a species. As a result, future generations and the environment are breathing a sigh of relief.