“A Google worker trying to determine which of the company’s electric rental cars, which are powered by solar panels, is his.”

I want the spearmint-green one!

From “Google’s Green Agenda Could Pay Off.”

Google is looking into “collaborat[ing] on policies and technologies aimed at improving the electricity grid.”  Company engineers are working on “tools that could help consumers make better decisions about their energy use.”  They’re probably talking about some version of “smart meters,” home metering devices that can regulate when electricity is used.*  In September, California passed $1.63 billion for the Edison SmartConnect program.  Meters that connect to appliances and control when they’re used — shutting off when electricity becomes expensive — would be an easy way for households to save money on energy.

* At times of peak demand, electricity is more expensive for the utility but not for the customer.  Customers have no incentive to reduce usage at these times and increase usage at other time — helping to “shave the peaks,” as they say in the business.  In the hottest days of summer in NYC, when the system is almost maxing out, Con Ed is forced to tap into dirtier source of electricity (coal and oil).  If power was more expensive then, people might use less of it, and we’d reduce the city’s overall carbon footprint.