Google Gets US Approval To Buy and Sell Energy 218
Posted
by
timothy
from the smartest-guys-in-the-room dept.
from the smartest-guys-in-the-room dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Thursday granted Google the authority to buy and sell energy on a wholesale basis. Google applied for the authorization last December through a wholly owned subsidiary called Google Energy. 'We made this filing so we can have more flexibility in procuring power for Google's own operations, including our data centers,' Google spokeswoman Niki Fenwick said via e-mail. But the authorization also raises the prospect that Google may start to buy and sell energy as a business." Reader angry_tapir supplies a link to the approval document itself (PDF).
We R in Control (Score:5, Informative)
We control the data banks
We control the think tanks
We control the flow of air.
We're controlling traffic lights
We control computer flights
We control the chief of staff.
We control the TV sky
We control the FBI
We control the flow of heat.
We R in Control, Neil Young. [metrolyrics.com]
Nothing new under the sun (Score:5, Informative)
It's called vertical integration [wikipedia.org]. We've been here before [wikipedia.org].
Why does this surprise anyone? Google is merely doing what any powerful company in a lightly-regulated, rapidly maturing market will do.
Re:Unrelated, but ... (Score:4, Informative)
From the filing:
On December 23, 2009, as amended on January 19, 2010, pursuant to section 205 of the Federal Power Act,3 Google Energy filed an initial application for market-based rate authority with an accompanying tariff providing for the sale of energy, capacity, and ancillary services at market-based rates.
ORDER GRANTING MARKET-BASED RATE AUTHORIZATION
(Issued February 18, 2010)
1. In this order, the Commission grants market-based rate authorization to Google Energy LLC (Google Energy), effective February 23, 2010, as requested.
I'd say it was about 57 days.
Re:GEnergy (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Woohoo GOOGLE! (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, that would be awesome. A grocery store with products people want subsidised by Google for data mining to sell ads. Imagine searching online and seeing things like Lettuce, Carrots, Croutons and Salad dressing in your targeted advertising because you buy a lot of salad ingredients at Google Grocery.
That already exists. My local grocery store has scanners you can carry around that you use to scan the barcode of items you're buying. Go to the register, give them (or it) any coupons, pay, and you're on your way. But while you're walking around it will occasionally make old-fashioned cash register noises and show you coupons for stuff you happen to be near and stuff you buy a lot (you have to scan your shopper's card to get a scanner in the first place).
Re:Advertising? (Score:4, Informative)
Electrons travel at the speed of light (in a vacuum).
Electrons have rest mass. They don't travel at the speed of light.
Re:Enron 2.0 anyone? (Score:1, Informative)
"Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely." Will "don't be evil" cancel that?
Why would it? It hasn't stopped google from doing their various other evil things.
It's just a marketing line, people. It's PR. And you fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
Re:GEnergy (Score:3, Informative)
You watch TV a lot? Get ads for a new plasma TV.
And how it could detect I scored with my girlfriend? No way, we never use _any_ electric.... wait... light in bedroom followed by light in shower.... I HATE YOU GOOGLE!
Re:Woohoo GOOGLE! (Score:3, Informative)
And if you have a "preferred" card or related form of unique identification, they can track your purchases. Most grocery stores around here have that as a way to get better prices.