Fact: Google is a Really Important Company. Sure, it boasts massive profits, and it fights with Microsoft, and there is still debate over whether it is staying true to its do-no-evil mantra. All that aside, however, Google is also taking on several projects that, if successful, will certainly help tip the "not evil" side of the scale. Here are three of them:GOOGLE POWERMETER Imagine if checking your electricity meter were part of your daily routine. Much as the fuel-use display on the Prius dashboard inspires drivers to improve their fuel economy, Google is betting that seeing real-time stats of how much energy you use will make you use less of it (which, incidentally, means spending less money). The physical PowerMeter will sync with the company's web-based interface, which will allow you to track your power use, and challenge friends to beat you at energy saving. The meters are currently being tested in markets in Canada, India, Germany, and the United States.PROJECT 10^100 With this project (ten to the one hundredth is a different way of writing the number googol), Google, to put it simply, is trying to change the world. More than 150,000 people submitted ideas to the project, whose only criterion is that the ideas could change the world, and help as many people as possible. Soon, the 100 best ideas (as chosen by Google employees), will be viewable online. Five winning ideas will be selected by the project's advisory board, and Google will spend $10 million to make them real.RE < C This project aims to find a way to make renewable energy cheaper than coal (that's where the name comes from) by investing in innovative companies and supporting public policies. Google hopes, within a few years, to be able to power a city the size of San Francisco with clean energy that costs less than coal.NOW WHAT? Visit the PowerMeter website to see if the device is available for testing in your area.
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