Energy Law

Two dozen countries representing 80 percent of the world?s commercial energy consumption on Tuesday announced initiatives to build more efficient appliances and buildings, ?smart? electric grids and electric vehicles.

?We?re taking aggressive immediate actions together to confront the energy challenge head on,?? said Energy Secretary Steven Chu, the host of a two-day conference dubbed the Clean Energy Ministerial. ?We know the energy challenge won?t wait, and we won?t wait either.??

The United States is helping launch 11 international clean energy initiatives, DOE announced on July 20. These new programs will cut energy waste, help deploy smart grid and electric vehicle technologies, support renewable energy markets, expand access to clean energy resources and jobs, and support women pursuing careers in clean energy. Announced during the first Clean Energy Ministerial, a two-day gathering in Washington, D.C., these endeavors offer partners concrete technical actions to promote economic growth while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. The initiatives will eliminate the need to build more than 500 mid-sized power plants worldwide over the next 20 years. Ministers from 23 governments and the United States, representing more than 80% of the world energy consumption, participated. Those same countries also account for a similar percentage of the global market for clean energy technologies and are accelerating the global transition to a clean energy and low-carbon future.

Google announced today that it will be buying wind-generated power from a company called NextEra Energy Resources to sell back to the local grid operator in exchange for Renewable Energy Certificates (basically, credits to offset its carbon emissions).

The company made the purchase via its relatively new Google Energy unit ? an entity that won the rights to buy and sell energy just like a utility from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in February.

This isn?t the first time Google has worked with NextEra. The search giant has already invested $38.8 million in two wind farms ? pumping out 169.5 megawatts total ? developed by NextEra in North Dakota. But starting on July 30, Google will be buying 114-megawatts of power from NextEra?s farm in Iowa at a flat, undisclosed rate.