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Google challenges Internet censorship in China. It invests in solar power, electric cars, geothermal energy and the smart grid, and runs an array of programs to help its employees become more “green.” It’s consistently voted one of the best places to work. And it has an inspiring mission: to organize all of the world’s information.

Yet Google doesn’t even come close to making the 2010 list of 100 Best Corporate Citizens put together by CRO Magazine, now known as Corporate Responsibility Magazine.
who did?

Oil companies Hess Corp. (No. 10 on the list) , ExxonMobil (No. 51, which for years sought to delay action to deal with climate change, says Greenpeace), Occidental Petroleum (No. 26, accused of contaminating the Amazon) and Chevron (No. 56, targeted in a landmark class action suit for creating en environmental catastrophe in Ecuador).

The Southern Co. (No. 71), a coal-burning utility which led the fight against the administration’s climate change bill.

And the Newmont Mining Corp (No. 16)., whose gold mines in Nevada have been major sources of mercury pollution."
@drgrist Did you read @MarcGunther's superb post on the last CR Magazine list http://bit.ly/eOpKiT

via:packrati.us greennumbers 100 Best Corporate Citizens List Corporate Responsibility Magazine csr google

Google is officially in the green energy business. The search giant announced on Tuesday that its Google Energy subsidiary signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with NextEra Energy. Google will begin buying 114 megawatts of electricity from an Iowa wind farm on July 30.

Google, of course, cannot directly use the clean green energy generated by the wind farm; that power goes into the local grid. So Google Energy will sell the power on the regional spot market, where utilities and electricity retailers go to buy power when demand spikes and they have a shortfall. Google will use the revenue from spot market sales to buy renewable energy certificates (RECs) which will offset its greenhouse gas emissions.

google google energy greennumbers wind energy wind farm NextEra Energy renewable energy certificates

If you use an iPhone, Apple just gave you five dozen very pressing reasons to update its software to the new iOS 4 operating system that's released Tuesday: patches for 64 security flaws that would potentially allow a cybercriminal to hack the smartphone.

iphone google Chinese Researcher ios 4 patches security flaw hack smartphone

The latest version of Greenpeace’s Cool IT Leaderboard (1) reveals how some global IT companies are leading the industry by proving the potential of IT solutions to address climate change and reshape energy use, while others seem unable to decide if IT climate solutions are a significant business opportunity or a simple marketing strategy

Greenpeace Cool IT Leaderboard climate change it google cisco sap

American presidents used to promise a chicken in every pot. If it were up to Google it would be a smart meter in every home.

In an initiative with the Climate Group, the company this week wrote a letter and hosted a summit at its Washington DC offices to urge Barack Obama to adopt a goal of providing every household with real time information about their electricity use.

google barack obama greennumbers climate group smart meter

If Google Inc. decides to close the door on its search engine in China, it might open a door for Microsoft Corp.

The software giant's Bing search engine is among the potential beneficiaries if Google goes ahead with its threat to close its Google.cn site amid a dispute with the Chinese government over censorship.

google china censorship microsoft bing

Google Inc. co-founder Sergey Brin pushed the Internet giant to take the risky step of abandoning its China-based search engine as that country's efforts to censor the Web and suppress dissidents smacked of the "totalitarianism" of his youth in the Soviet Union.

google china sergey brin

Maybe it's because I was schooled in political science, not computer science. But frankly I've been surprised by the extent to which some respected commentators have focused on trashing Google for lacking purity of motive. As if that were some kind of brilliant revelation. Of course Google's actions are motivated by self-interest.

google china censorship

As Google’s resident “green energy czar,” Bill Weihl is charged with pursuing the company’s stated goal of making renewable energy, through a mix of internal research and external investments, cheaper than coal. Since 2007, Google has invested more than $45 million toward that end.

Green Inc. recently visited Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., and caught up with Mr. Weihl — one of Time Magazine’s 2009 Heroes of the Environment — to talk about Google’s place in the development of the renewable energy industry.

google bill weihl renewable energy

Google made headlines when it went public with the fact that Chinese hackers had penetrated some of its services, such as Gmail, in a politically motivated attempt at intelligence gathering. The news here isn't that Chinese hackers engage in these activities or that their attempts are technically sophisticated -- we knew that already -- it's that the U.S. government inadvertently aided the hackers.

In order to comply with government search warrants on user data, Google created a backdoor access system into Gmail accounts. This feature is what the Chinese hackers exploited to gain access.

chinese hackers google gmail gmail hack us government backdoor

Intel has designs on the nascent home energy management business, following Google, Microsoft, Apple, Panasonic, and dozens of smaller tech companies.

intel google apple microsoft powermeter hohm home energy management

It’s beginning to become clear that Google’s push back on China has become a watershed moment in the history of industrial globalization and everyone is struggling for context. It’s important to consider the increasing anxiety in the US over the rising economic power & competitiveness of China as we address the core question: should Microsoft, Google & everyone else head for the airport and get out of China now in the interests of human rights?

china google microsoft cisco yahoo censorship human rights

"Google is seeking to patent an advanced data center cooling system that provides precision cooling inside racks of servers, automatically adjusting to temperature changes while dramatically reducing the energy required to run chillers."

google data center datacenter chillers cooling air wand patent

"Google and Energy Inc. have partnered to provide a home power-measuring device that works with Google's energy management software to give homeowners detailed information about their power consumption that can help them monitor and reduce energy consumption. "

smart grid google powermeter ted 5000 greenmonktv

Google Wave has arrived. The real-time communication platform has been one of the hottest and most anticipated products in the tech and social media space for months. Soon around 100,000 people will be messaging each other in one of Google’s most ambitious projects to date.

So what if you’re one of the lucky ones to get an invite, or just want to understand exactly how this new tool works? While we cover the basics in our Google Wave Guide and have explored its game-changing features, we haven’t really written about exactly how to use Google Wave (Google Wave) and how to navigate it.

So that’s exactly what we did.

google wave google wave how to

Google Inc is in the early stages of looking at ways to write software that would fully integrate plug-in hybrid vehicles to the power grid, minimize strain on the grid and help utilities manage vehicle charging load.

"We are doing some preliminary work," said Dan Reicher, Google's director of Climate Change and Energy Initiatives. "We have begun some work on smart charging of electric vehicles and how you would integrate large number of electric vehicles into the grid successfully."

smart grid google phev plug in hybrid demand response greenmonktv

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 a quarter or more.

google solar mirror greenmonktv

Google (GOOG) has begun operating a data center in Belgium that has no chillers to support its cooling systems, a strategy that will improve its energy efficiency while making local weather forecasting a larger factor in its data center management

google chillers data center datacenter cix greenmonktv

In June 2007 Google made a voluntary commitment to become carbon neutral. To honor this commitment, we calculated our global carbon footprint, purchased high-quality carbon offsets, and worked with a third party to certify our calculations and validate our offset portfolio. Through this process, we've neutralized all of Google's 2007 emissions, as well as part of our 2008 emissions. We'll continue to invest in offset projects until we reach carbon neutrality.

google carbon neutral greenmonktv

America doesn’t have a national energy plan, but Google does.

The question is, why?

“You’ve got to go out and take a stand,” says Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO.

energy plan google