Google today announced a new strategic initiative to develop electricity from renewable energy sources that will be cheaper than electricity produced from coal. The newly created initiative, known as RE<C, will focus initially on advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, enhanced geothermal systems and other potential breakthrough technologies.

I think in the long term we need to move away from the idea of monolithic power stations providing all of our electrical needs. The future will be a system that allows for many inputs to the system. People will complement the electrical out points they have now with in points, so that you can plug in your solar panels, windmills, pet rats on a wheel, or your kids tied to the Hill's Hoist, and feed power back into the grid.