Google's huge investment in zero-carbon business

Google spent an estimated $3 million to $4 million to build 395 fast electric vehicle chargers on its campus.

As the double-decker turns onto Charleston Road and begins its journey through Google's corporate campus in Mountain View, California, I stretch out in a large business-class airplane seat, admiring the sleek black leather and rich gray carpet beneath my feet. A large, movable table is set up in front of me for laptops, and the bus's Wi-Fi system lets you surf the Internet. The $800,000 luxury double-decker is just one of 73 corporate shuttles owned and operated by Google. (It leases 26 more.) Every day, this fleet of vehicles ferries 4,500 employees to and from work, about a third of the Googleplex's workforce.

In fact, Google's free shuttles aren't just an employee benefit - they actually save the company a ton of money. That's 4,500 employees working hours a day on their way to and from work, which increases productivity. But the value of Google's shuttle service doesn't stop there. Land is expensive in Mountain View, and building underground parking garages costs as much as $85,000 (yes!). If Google were to build a parking spot for every employee who drives to work, the total cost would be close to $400 million. And that doesn't even include the opportunity cost of not being able to use the land to build an office building.

Google has also invested in other transportation projects. If an employee wants to take a short break during work or pick up a sick child from school, he can use the 52 electric and hybrid cars parked on campus. The company also encourages employees who drive themselves to use electric vehicles. It is estimated that Google has spent about $3 million to $4 million to install 395 charging devices on the company campus, which is the largest corporate electric vehicle infrastructure in the United States.

Finding novel solutions to energy problems has become a priority for Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page in recent years. For obvious reasons—population growth, increasing resource scarcity, and climate change—he believes the corporate world needs to operate in a more sustainable way, and he's determined to build the first zero-carbon company in the U.S. That means being so energy efficient and using a high percentage of clean energy that it emits no greenhouse gases. It's a very ambitious goal indeed. Experts aren't sure it's actually possible for a company to emit zero carbon, but Google is trying to get as close as possible. "As we become a big consumer of energy, we want to make sure we're not just a problem maker, but a problem solver," said Urs H. Herzler, Google's senior vice president of green projects and employee No. 8, so that it can at least be carbon neutral on paper before reaching its overall goal.