Google’s solar thermal technology smothers clean coal

Google is bringing a new carnival to town, hall of mirrors included, that could slam the door on clean coal and offer a wealth of opportunity for alternative energy. It’s no surprise that the highly profitable technology company is once again expanding its reach, especially in the renewable energy market, to reap the benefit of their technological ingenious that will use solar generated steam to spin turbines.

The innovative renewable energy, known as solar thermal technology, takes the traditional form of using photovoltaic solar cells to transform the sun’s rays into energy and beefs it up on every kind of steroid. Intelligent mirrors scattered throughout fields aim the sun’s rays at a substance that heats up and produces a steam that generates movement in the turbine, which in turn creates energy.

Solar thermal technology utilizes the best of both solar and wind energy without the uncertainty of unpredictable wind patterns and the potential of low output from the minimally small surface area of most solar panel units.

The goal for Google, according to a recent interview with Google’s green energy czar Bill Weihl, is to generate a renewable energy source that is cheaper than coal, clean or not. With the recent advent of what is being called “peak coal,” Google may do just that and on a timetable much quicker than was ever imagined.

“Peak coal” is a term used to describe the time when coal mining reaches its climax or maximum rate of production and from there enters a phase of permanent decline. The Wall Street Journal, along with other credible sources, have reported that peak coal theorists believe the United States grossly overestimated the abundance of coal, and they believe the current levels of production are completely unsustainable.

Additionally, the USGS did a survey of the most productive coal field in the US and found that only 6% of the field could be mined for a profit, the rest would need to see a drastic hike in price per ton to ever see the light of day.

The result: supply shifts and prices steadily increase, much the way gas prices exploded when there were scares of limited supplies and reserves. Essentially, Google’s solar thermal technology could undercut the pricing of coal as soon as coal prices increase.

Not to mention, for clean coal to even be a reality, Harvard’s Daniel Schrag writes in a book called Making Carbon Capture and Storage Work that plants would need to use about 30% more energy to ever capture the emissions it produces. An ironic number considering clean coal is trying to reduce, not produce.

Google has already invested $50 million into the project and hopes the current administration’s funding will continue to push for renewable energy, allowing solar thermal technology to become a reality. Clean coal may soon become an idea of the past thanks to the superpower Google.