Google Inc. believes it can reduce the cost of solar power with new mirror
technology it is developing.
"We've been looking at very unusual materials for the mirrors both for the
reflective surface as well as the substrate that the mirror is mounted on," Reuters
reports that the search company's energy chief Bill Weihl said Wednesday at a San
Francisco alternative energy summit.
Google engineers are focusing on solar thermal technology which uses the sun rays
to produce steam that turns a turbine. Mirrors are used to focus the sun's rays
with this technology.
Weihl said Wednesday that Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) wants to reduce the cost of making
the fields of mirrors that track the sun by at least a factor of two to four.
The company is within months of having something it can show internally and then it
must be tested.
"We're not there yet," Reuters reported Wiehl as saying. "I'm very hopeful we will
have mirrors that are cheaper than what companies in the space are using…"
