Ch. 3 - Ethics & Social Responsibility

   Google has done a lot to maintain its Ethic and Social Responsibilities. For example in 2007, Google committed itself to becoming carbon neutral by reducing waste, using as much renewable energy as possible and offsetting its emissions through carbon credits. To do this, it has invested hundreds of million dollars in renewable energy projects, mainly solar and wind, and has entered into huge long-term purchase agreements with major renewable energy producers at a total cost of somewhere in the region of $800 million. 


Inside Google Plex:


     Google has also spent millions on making sure that the offices where its software engineers work are carbon neutral wherever possible. The rooftops of its headquarters, ‘Googleplex’, are covered in solar panels which generate 1.6MW of electricity. Google encourages its workers or "Googlers" to also be environmentally friendly. Google provides its workers with shuttles to commute from home to work and back, and when they get to the Googleplex they provide their workers with Gfleet, Google's car-sharing program for Googlers on campus, which includes the next generation plug-in vehicles. Googler's Gfleet is available to employees free of charge for off-site meetings, running errands, or emergencies. Googlers can also take GBikes, their on-campus bike fleet or GRide, their on-campus taxi service, across campus to quickly get to where they need to go.  

Google around the World:


   Not only is the company looking for a way to maintain itself environmentally friendly, the company is also using its technical know-how to work on a series of projects to help make the world a more energy efficient place. Its free PowerMeter service allows home owners to track how much electricity they are using at home, while it is working on software to make driving a car more efficient. It has also come up with a plan, ‘Clean Energy 2030’, to create $4.8 trillion in the US and cut fossil fuel consumption in the world’s biggest energy market by 88 percent for electricity generation and 44 percent for vehicles. The plan suggests that it is possible to cut carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation by an incredible 95 percent.


     Google has also produced 'Blackle', its meant to be the energy saving search engine alternative to the original Google page. Blackle saves energy by the screen being predominantly black and because a monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen.