I love Google. I really do. You need to read this article because it shows that they are forward thinking and willing to shake things up to get something done.

Google article at bizjournals.com

If you have known me for any amount of time, you know that I could be a Google poster child. I use pretty much all of their services, have recommended and deployed some of them as corporate solutions, and am quick to recommend Google anything for a solution. I really do think they have some wonderful technologies and ideas.

That is one of the reasons this article at WorldChanging.com caught my eye, especially with regards to Michigan. Google has a strong presence in Ann Arbor, no doubt (at least partially) to keep their eyes open for more PhD’s coming out of the University of Michigan.

Both GE and Google have the financial ability to lobby for renewable energy policy changes on a level that mere mortals will never reach. But the exciting thing to me is the pairing of the two at what they do best, which GE actually mentions in the article.

“Smart grids also provide consumers with advanced information about their electricity usage, which encourages energy efficiency. “We make the gadgets, smart meters, and people like Google could make the software,” said GE chief executive officer Jeff Immelt at a Google technology conference where the partnership was announced.”

I am wondering if T. Boone Pickens will mention anything about this when he is in Ann Arbor this week. I have to believe there will be people from Google there.

Cleantechnica.com has an excellent blog post that describes the EPA’s release of a Google Earth mashup of potential sites for renewable energy sources to be built. The author does a good job describing what the map means.

There are many locations in Michigan that have potential. Of particular interest to me personally is the site in Kalamazoo that my grandfather worked at when it was a paper mill. It has long been shut down, but in his day, it was a thriving paper factory that employed a lot of people with decent wages for the day. Back then, they did not consider the long term effects of what they were doing. I think it would be an awesome thing for these sites, once a source of sustained pollution, to be transformed into renewable energy sites. The potential for green collar jobs at these sites will only help our economy and help us create our own energy.