International. Google managed to reach 100% renewable energy in two consecutive years, which makes it the first company of this size to achieve this achievement.
In 2017, Google managed to reach the goal of buying enough renewable energy to match 100% of the company's annual global electricity use, while in 2018, the total energy acquired by Google from sources such as solar and wind has again matched its annual electricity consumption.
The Internet multinational has explained that its priority has been to use the least amount of energy possible, making sustainable use of its offices and facilities, especially its data centers.
In the case of data centers, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence and chip design, these infrastructures are now seven times more energy efficient than they were five years ago. In this sense, google's latest Environmental Report highlights that computing that uses centralized cloud services is up to 85% more efficient than that that uses local servers.
Google's energy strategy also involves closing long-term contracts, called Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) for the purchase of electricity from wind or solar farms built near the company's facilities.
PPAs have more impact than other purchasing methods, such as disaggregated renewable energy credits, as they stimulate the construction of new renewable energy projects.
In addition to betting on PPAs, Google has begun partnering with utility companies to design programs that allow companies to buy renewable energy through their energy suppliers.
It has also joined different companies, as in the case of the Netherlands, to buy energy as a consortium, a model that Google hopes will be useful for those companies that are smaller and are interested in allying with others in order to save on the costs involved in large renewable energy agreements.
Finally, Google has begun to use machine learning to make wind energy production in the central United States more predictable and valuable, improving the business model in order to expand it.
Source: Google - RH Press.
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