Google is as Google does, am I right? This week, the tech giant came up with the perfect response to “bUt wHat AbOUt wHeN tHe SuN IsN’t ShIning?” mantra of renewable energy haters. Instead of managing energy supply based on demand, they’re managing demand based on the supply.

Makes me wonder what they Googled to come up with this solution.

Each week we summarize three pieces of news that give us hope for a greener future, and inspire more Earth-friendly action.

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Google Turns Demand Management On Its Head To Cut Data Center Emissions

By Mike Scott, Forbes, May 10, 2020

  • Google plans to manage its power consumption to better align with the availability of renewable energy such as solar and wind. The tech-giant is “moving some functions to times when the grid is at its greenest because wind and/or solar resources are operating at high capacity.”
  • Per the article: “Google has been one of the biggest corporate buyers of renewable energy, but it could not always match the energy produced to its demand use. This latest move is part of the company’s plan to use only carbon-free energy 24/7, and Google calls it Carbon-Intelligent Computing.”
  • If successful, Google’s approach could serve as a model to other high-energy tech-giants.

PacifiCorp Readies Huge Solicitation for Renewables, Energy Storage

By Jeff St. John, Green Tech Media, May 11, 2020

  • PacifiCorp – an energy utility owned b Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway – is rolling out an energy plan that relies heavily on wind, solar and energy storage.
  • Side note: Buffet recently told shareholders “if you’re an Oxy shareholder or a shareholder in any oil producing company, you join me in having made a mistake so far in terms of where oil prices went. And who knows where they go in the future?”
  • The PacifiCorp plan calls for 1,823 megawatts of solar, 595 megawatts of battery storage, and 1,920 megawatts of wind by the end of 2023.
  • The large scale rollout has the potential to replace coal and natural gas plants.

Iceland To Stop Killing Whales In 2020, Choosing To Watch Them Instead

By Ariella Simke, Forbes, May 10, 2020

  • Citing declining exports and increasing regulations, Iceland cancelled its annual whale hunt for 2020.
  • Iceland, Japan and Norway are the only three countries that still practice commercial whale hunting after a global moratorium was put in place in 1986. “According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), over 30,000 whales have been killed by the three countries since the moratorium was established.”
  • Per the article: “While demand for whale meat is on the decline, interest in whale watching is on the rise. Turns out, watching whales could be more profitable than killing them. From 2007 to 2018, tourism in Iceland boomed from 485,000 foreign tourists to 2.3 million. The whale watching industry took off as a result, with 345,000 people watching whales in 2018 compared to the measly 72,000 in 2003.”

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Feature photo by Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash.