Google wants to create electricity from renewable energy sources that will be cheaper than electricity produced from coal.

Google has announced a new strategic initiative to develop electricity from renewable energy sources that will be cheaper than electricity produced from coal.

The newly created initiative, known as RE<C, will focus initially on advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, enhanced geothermal systems and other potential breakthrough technologies. 

The early-stage companies Google has begun to work with to drive down the costs of renewable energy are eSolar Inc. and Makani Power. 

“We have gained expertise in designing and building large-scale, energy-intensive facilities by building efficient data centers,” said Larry Page, Google Co-founder and President of Products. “We want to apply the same creativity and innovation to the challenge of generating renewable electricity at globally significant scale, and produce it cheaper than from coal.”

Page added: “There has been tremendous work already on renewable energy. Technologies have been developed that can mature into industries capable of providing electricity cheaper than coal. Solar thermal technology, for example, provides a very plausible path to providing renewable energy cheaper than coal.

“With talented technologists, great partners and significant investments, we hope to rapidly push forward. Our goal is to produce one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal.  We are optimistic this can be done in years, not decades.”(One gigawatt can power a city the size of San Francisco.)

Coal is the primary power source for many around the world, supplying 40% of the world’s electricity; however, the greenhouse gases it produces are one of the greatest environmental challenges. Making electricity produced from renewable energy cheaper than coal would be a key part of reducing global greenhouse-gas emissions.

Dr. Larry Brilliant, Executive Director of Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm, said: “Google.org’s hope is that by funding research on promising technologies, investing in promising new companies, and doing a lot of R&D ourselves, we may help spark a green electricity revolution.”

Google has been working hard on energy efficiency and making its business environmentally sustainable.  Last spring the company announced its intention to be carbon neutral for 2007, and is on track to meet that goal. To this end, the company has taken concrete steps to reduce its carbon footprint and accelerate improvements in green technology.

For more information on Google’s commitment to a clean energy, visit: http://www.google.com/renewable-energy.