Some good news for a change

It's been getting a little serious around here lately, so it's time to switch things up a bit. Just to prove that it's not all doom-and-gloom all the time, here comes Google with a very interesting new project.

Internet search engine giant Google is investing in a mammoth project to build an underwater "superhighway for clean energy" that would funnel power from offshore wind farms to 1.9 million homes without overtaxing the already congested mid-Atlantic power grid, the company said.

Google is partnering with Good Energies, an environmentally focused international investment company based in New York, London and Switzerland, and Tokyo-based Marubeni Corp. to finance the project, which the New York Times reported Tuesday could cost $5 billion...

Although the project is outside of Google's normal Internet focus, company officials said in their announcement: "We believe in investing in projects that make good business sense and further the development of renewable energy."

Google has come under some criticism lately among many who question its commitment to its "don't be evil" credo, but this is a refreshing change of pace for them. I think Google is a very interesting, very smart company that isn't afraid to challenge a lot of widely held beliefs about how business should be done. They give away great products (Picasa, Google Voice) for free to support core businesses, and question old paradigms in the process.

Now, they see an opportunity that isn't being taken, and they take a shot, without regard for what their "core business" is. In a world of "that's not my job", it's interesting to see someone step up and say "why can't that be my job?" It'll be interesting to see what happens here, but I think it's at the very least intriguing.

[Washington Post]