Google Getting Into the Solar Mirror Business

adeelarshad82 writes with this excerpt from a Reuters report: "Google is disappointed with the lack of breakthrough investment ideas in the green technology sector, but the company is working to develop its own new mirror technology that could reduce the cost of building solar thermal plants by [25%] or more. The company's engineers have been focused on solar thermal technology, in which the sun's energy is used to heat up a substance that produces steam to turn a turbine. Mirrors focus the sun's rays on the heated substance. ... Google hopes to have a viable technology to show internally in a couple of months, Bill Weihl said. It will need to do accelerated testing to show the impact of decades of wear on the new mirrors in desert conditions."

Comments

Power?

[Coren22]

I guess they figured out thier electric bills were too high.

Re:Power?

[Yvan256]

Isn't it extremely dangerous? It could escape the power plant by pretending to be a cop and then go on a killing rampage.

An interim solution

[CRCulver]

It will need to do accelerated testing to show the impact of decades of wear on the new mirrors in desert conditions.

Solar panels don't have to last too long when fusion is only thirty years away, am i rite?

Google and Govt talk:

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

From the article:

Weihl said Google had not intended to invest much more in early years, but that there was little to buy. "I would say it's reasonable to be a little bit discouraged there and from my point of view, it's not right to be seriously discouraged," he said. "There isn't enough investment going into the early stages of investment pipeline before the venture funds come into the play." The U.S. government needs to provide more funds to develop ideas at the laboratory stage, he said. "I'd like to see $20 billion or $30 billion for 10 yrs (for the sector)," Weihl said. "That would be fabulous. It's pretty clear what we have seen isn't enough."

Google: "Government, please throw in some 20 or 30 billion dollars to into solar energy research"

Govt: Nah, deficits are high. We dont have money. It should be done by the private sector. 20 or 30 billion dollars is too much way too much we cant afford it It is not a trivial sum like 780 billion dollars to clean up after wall street greedy moneybags. Tell you what? Grow too big to fail. Then come back asking for a couple of trillion dollars. Then we will be able to do it. OK?

Did Google misinterpret

[Anonymous Coward]

Did Google misinterpret the reason that Oracle bought Sun?