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Google Files First Solar Patent, Builds R&D Team

Posted by Soulskill on from the searching-for-electrons dept.

bizwriter writes "Google has moved beyond investing and using solar power and has started on serious R&D work in the field. Its first patent application in solar energy technology just became public, and the company is staffing a new R&D group 'to develop electricity from renewable energy sources at a cost less than coal' at 'utility scale.'"

4 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Renewable? Hah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Sun has a limited supply of hydrogen fuel. If we start depending on solar, in a few measly billion years we'll be depending on hydrogen imports from undemocratic planets. And the chance of a meltdown within 5 billion years or so is pretty much 100%.

    1. Re:Renewable? Hah! by dogmatixpsych · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's worse than that. If we start building more solar energy plants we'll use more of the energy from the sun, causing it to burn out faster. The one positive thing about that is it will counteract global warming because eventually the sun will cool down as we suck all the energy from it.

    2. Re:Renewable? Hah! by Mindcontrolled · · Score: 3, Funny

      Not sure about peak sun, but we passed peak wit, obviously.

      --
      Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
  2. Re:Another attempt by Zerth · · Score: 4, Funny

    I just hope they can maintain interest longer than they did with their Power Meter API, which was just deprecated.