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Google Gets US Approval To Buy and Sell Energy
An anonymous reader writes "The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Thursday granted Google the authority to buy and sell energy on a wholesale basis. Google applied for the authorization last December through a wholly owned subsidiary called Google Energy. 'We made this filing so we can have more flexibility in procuring power for Google's own operations, including our data centers,' Google spokeswoman Niki Fenwick said via e-mail. But the authorization also raises the prospect that Google may start to buy and sell energy as a business." Reader angry_tapir supplies a link to the approval document itself (PDF).
Will Google offer the energy free of cost? And how long until Google Energy gets out of beta? Will you initially need an invite?
Coupled with intelligent power management (where appliances communicate to optimize energy consumption), it could be a data miner's wet dream: Base the ads not only on what web pages you view, but also on what appliances you use when and how often. You use your washing machine a lot? Get lots of ads for washing agents. You watch TV a lot? Get ads for a new plasma TV. You use lots of kitchen machines? Get ads for cookbooks, ingredients for your cooking, kitchen knives, etc. Oh, and your health insurance might be interested in the fact that your lights are on during much of the night. You seem to have a very unhealthy lifestyle; your insurance rates unfortunately have to be increased ...
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
Developing a fast cheap smart grid seems more of google's biz than actual energy production. I'm sure the have experience with their heft energy usage. Perhaps it is part of getting into that business? Likely google is just doing energy for themselves and keeping more doors open because ... that's simply being prudent.