Renewable “green” energy is having a tough slog in the UnitedStates. While some countries, such as Germany and China, areinvesting huge amounts of money in renewable energy, in the U.S.things are moving backward in some ways. With budgets strapped,states and the federal government have ended many tax credits thathad funded green energy initiatives. Republicans have madeattacking government loans and credits for renewable energyprojects part of their campaign pitch, and even the Democrats,while giving lip service to green energy at their convention, arebalking at subsidies and talking up shale gas.

Enter Google, the $40 billion Internet company.

A year ago, Google, which says it is already carbon-neutral—agoal that its founders espoused from the beginning—began a majorprogram of buying renewable energy rather than using carbon-basedenergy and then offsetting it. This year, the company has turnedthings around and is investing in green power generation directly,instead of just buying it from others.