With a soaring stock price and fat bottom line, Google has plenty of time and money to move into other sectors. Today Google announced a new plan to develop renewable energy like solar. Cofounder Larry Page optimistically claims Google's "goal is to produce one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal. We are optimistic this can be done in years, not decades." An admirable goal, to be sure, but what does this give the shareholders?

The venture, called RE<C (renewable energy less expensive than coal) will perform research and invest in other new ventures with the help of Google.org, Google's philanthropic arm. Our question is, why is Google getting involved in power generation? According to Google, they will be spending tens of millions of dollars on R&D related to renewable energy. Powering all its datacenters is not cheap, and reducing energy costs could pay off for Google in the long term. But is Google really the one to do it? Is this about powering Google's servers, or its founders' egos?

Contact information for this author is not available.