Knol Today is a firm believer of small things that can help the world a more sustainable place to live.

In fact, all of my network of sites, anchored by Noobpreneur Entrepreneurial Blog, are 100% green energy powered. The network carbon footprints are neutralised by purchasing wind energy.

In concordance to the small steps Knol Today has begun, the Google energy team has launched a proposal that mainly contain the analysis on how we could greatly reduce fossil fuel use by 2030 (the proposal is announced on October 1, 2008.

A knol by Jeffery Greenblatt on clean energy proposal by Google offers the summarised version of the proposal.

Jeffery explained that the proposal will allow significant reduction in energy use, based on Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) current baseline:

• Fossil fuel-based electricity generation by 88%
• Vehicle oil consumption by 38%
• Dependence on imported oil (currently 10 million barrels per day) by 33%
• Electricity-sector CO2 emissions by 95%
• Personal vehicle sector CO2 emissions by 38%
• US CO2 emissions overall by 48% (40% from today’s CO2 emission level)

The proposal contains the wealth of information and action plans to reach the milestones, which include replacing all coal and oil electricity generation, and about half of that from natural gas, with renewable electricity.

what’s Google role in this clean energy proposal?

Google is committed to implementing innovative and responsible environmental practices in every aspect of our business. To date, we’ve taken concrete steps to bolster the efficiency of our data centers and reduce the carbon footprint of our building and office operations. And we’re always looking for ways to create innovative products that help our users “go green.” Our philanthropic arm, Google.org, has made $50 million in renewable energy grants and investments to develop breakthrough technologies such as solar thermal, enhanced geothermal, and advanced wind. In 2007 we launched our Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal (RE

To learn more on the Clean Energy 2030 proposal, please visit Jeffery’s knol.

William started his knol with a brief history on solar energy as one of alternative energies today.

Here’s an interesting fact that I found in William’s knol about the use of solar energy:

In 2004, solar energy accounted for only 0.039 percent of the world’s total primary energy supply of 11,059 million metric tons of oil equivalent, according to the International Energy Agency. In other words, solar energy provided about 4 terawatt-hours of electricity generation, out of an estimated overall total production of some 17,450 terawatt-hours (1 terawatt = 1 trillion watts).

Considering the abundance of sun’s exposure on earth surface, the 0.039 percent, in my opinion, is very insignificant, thus there are definitely rooms to grow for solar system implementations and usages.

Some of the uses of solar energy today can be found in the form of passive solar and solar water heating.

Passive solar is the use of techniques and technologies for the purpose of daylighting, to supplement or replace electric lighting.

Regarding the solar water heating, William explained that today, solar water heaters are rapidly returning to the mainstream. In June, Hawaii enacted a law that requires all new homes to be built with solar water heaters, which will save the state an enormous amount of energy every year.

If you would like to learn more, please visit William Pentland’s knol on solar energy.

Image by futureatlas.com.