Google sees energy solution in the math

SAN FRANCISCO–Google CEO Eric Schmidt outlined an energy plan Monday to reduce America’s dependence on oil and create green jobs.

…He said that, if by 2030, the U.S. were to adopt renewable energy sources for 100 percent of its power generation, replacing energy production from coal-fired plants, and replace at least half of its cars with plug-in hybrids, then it could cut carbon emissions by half. (And potentially avert a global warming crisis.)


No easy feat. But if the plan is adopted, Schmidt calculated that the U.S. would save 97 percent of $2.17 trillion in energy spending over the next 22 years. So expenditures would only be $600 billion; or assuming an 8 percent discount rate (factoring interest rates), the government could save even more in that time.

C-net