In writing the last article about Wal-Mart, I came across some other articles showing that other companies were making a major investment in solar panels.

One that caught my eye said that Google will be installing 1.6 megawatts worth of solar panels on the roof of the buildings at their campus.

This is pretty consistent with Google’s corporate motto: “Don’t be evil.”

If you are trying to imagine how many solar panels this is, I found one article which said that the solar panels will “cover an area equal to about four acres”.

Interestingly, Google is looking to get some additional benefits out of the solar panels by creative placement. According to the same article referenced above:

“[The solar panels] will be installed on the roofs of some campus buildings and double as shading for cars in parking lots. … Google also expects to realize some savings in air-conditioning costs because the panels on the building roofs, by absorbing sunlight, will reduce the amount of heat absorbed into their top floors.”

While Google wouldn’t reveal how much this would cost, multiple articles I read said that they expect to recover all of the costs within 5-10 years. Since the solar panels last for about 25 years, that means 15-20 years of pure profit off of this initiative.

Over the weekend, I was talking with a colleague about these plans, and they mentioned that California is getting to such a severe situation in terms of energy that new buildings are not guaranteed access to the power grid. So, it could be that Google’s plans are born of necessity — they have such enormous energy needs that they cannot have their growth restricted by the normal supply of the energy companies.