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Google's Green Energy Guy Says Good-bye

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November 08, 2011

Google's Green Energy Guy Says Good-bye

By Tracey E. Schelmetic
TMCnet Contributor

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Google (News - Alert) is losing its green and clean technology guy as of today. Bill Weihl, who has been the leader of Google's clean energy team since 2006, will be departing the search giant after close of business today (Tuesday).


Weihl blogger Allison van Diggelen of Fresh Dialogues quoted Weihl as saying, “it's time to move on and find something new.”

Google Energy, a subsidiary of Google, was founded with a goal of reducing the costs and environmental impact of energy consumption of the Google Group. It is licensed to produce and sell energy at market rates by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission FERC. It also works with Google's philanthropic arm to fund cutting edge and established clean energy projects. 

Google Energy has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in a variety of projects, including wind power, solar energy, solar thermal, and geothermal projects, including a 1.6 MW solar installation pilot project at the company's California headquarters. It has invested $38.8 million into two wind farms in North Dakota, and is cooperating with other interests to move forward with plans to build the Atlantic Wind Connection, an undersea cable off the Atlantic coast to connect future offshore wind farms with on-shore transmission grids.

The group also struck a $280 million deal with SolarCity, a large solar project chaired by Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal (News - Alert), founder and chief architect of electric vehicle (EV) sports car company Tesla Motors and CEO and CTO of space transport company Space-X.

Weihl joined Google in 2006, coming from Internet content delivery network provider Akamai (News - Alert), according to Business Insider.

Google says it wishes Weihl well. “Bill has catalyzed thinking and action about clean energy at Google and beyond, and has played a crucial role in developing our approach to sustainability,” said Urs Hoelzle, Google's senior VP for technical infrastructure, said in a statement.

Hoelzle will continue to lead Google's data center efficiency program, and Rick Needham will continue to lead the company's clean energy investments, according to PC World.



Tracey Schelmetic is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Tracey's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell

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