Google Inc aims to voluntarily cut or offset all of its greenhouse emissions by the end of the year, the Web search leader said. Google is one of a number of companies, including News Corp and Yahoo Inc that are attempting to cut emissions of gases scientists link to global warming.   To make the cuts, Google is investing in energy efficiency, renewable energy like solar, and will purchase carbon offsets for emissions it cannot reduce directly, the company said.

Google greenhouse

"On their own, carbon offsets are not capable of creating the kinds of fundamental changes to our energy infrastructure that will be necessary to stabilise global greenhouse gas emissions to safe levels," Google said on its Web site.  "But we believe that offsets can offer real, measurable,and additional emissions reductions that allow us to take full responsibility for our footprint today."      Google said it would invest in projects like capturing and burning methane, a greenhouse gas with about 20 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide, from animal waste at Mexican and Brazilian farms.  "Our funding makes it possible for anaerobic digesters to be installed, which capture and flare the biogas produced while simultaneously improving local air quality and reducing land and water contamination,"  Google said.    Separately, Google is planning to spend $600 million to build a data center in western Iowa that will receive power from a MidAmerican Energy Co plant fired by coal, the fuel that emits the most carbon dioxide. A Google spokesman told Reuters all emissions from its Iowa project were accounted for in its carbon neutral plan.  Non-profit emissions advisors The Climate Group said they will partner with Google to support its offset plans.   Hybrid electric vehicles  Google announced in January  that it will give $1 million in grants to promote use of plug-in hybrids -- vehicles that run primarily on electricity but also use gas, and which can get as much as 100 miles per  gallon. Google.org, the for-profit philanthropic arm of Google, announced on June 19 $1 million in grants to several organizations as part of a new initiative to hasten the adoption of hybrid electric vehicles.    As part of the initiative, called RechargeIT, Google.org also announced plans for a $10 million request for proposals to fund the development and commercialization of plug-in vehicles, fully electric cars and related vehicle-to-grid technology.  Solar panels  Google also announced today that the project to install solar panels at the company's Mountain View headquarters was completed. Google announced the project last October and the installation, which is  designed to provide 1.6 megawatts of electricity, is the largest corporate campus installation in the world, according to EI Solutions, the company that installed the system.    Showing the power of teamwork, solar electric system design and engineering firm Blue Oak Energy partnered with Google’s solar integrator, EI Solutions to create a customized solar electric system at the Googleplex, the Company’s headquarters in Mountain View, California.    More than nine thousand solar modules transformed seven building rooftops and two car parking lots into lean, green, solar power machines. The new system — one of the world’s largest — now offsets approximately 30% of the campus’ peak power. That translates into more than 2.5 million pounds of carbon dioxide prevented from entering the atmosphere each year.   Energy-efficient personal computers   Google and Intel announced an environmental initiative  aimed at reducing the amount of energy that computers waste. The “Climate Savers Computing Initiative” aims to save energy and reduce greenhouse gases while also saving money for companies and consumers. The project, which includes more than 30 other companies and organizations such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Microsoft, Yahoo, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, sets targets for energy efficient computers.  Many personal computers waste about half of their power and servers waste one-third, emitting energy as heat or unnecessarily running when not in use, said Urs Holzle, Google senior vice president of operations.  The consortium hopes to reach an efficiency level of 90 percent, which would cut greenhouse gas emissions each year by 54 million tons and save more than $5.5 billion in energy costs, Mr. Holzle said.    Tackle poverty, disease and global warming   Google announced the formation of Google.org in September 2006,providing seed money of about $1 billion and a mandate to tackle poverty, disease and global warming.

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