Why Google's Bet on Wasted Energy Is Great News For the Rest of Us
Google (GOOG) has poured millions into solar, wind and geothermal, all investments aimed at its mission to make renewable energy a cheaper source of electricity than coal. But Google's latest investment via its venture arm Google Ventures in Transphorm, a company that makes super-efficient power modules, could have a greater impact than all of its efforts combined. And here's the best part, Transphorm's tech could help Google solve a niggling problem: power-hungry data centers.
Transphorm has found a way to eliminate up to 90 percent of the energy lost when power is converted from the current that flows from your wall socket to the direct current that your computer, TV or even electric car batteries use. All of that lost energy creates a secondary problem because it escapes as heat. That waste heat requires air conditioning to cool the devices, another huge energy sucker and drag on our power grid.
Data centers -- which Google has in spades --would not only become much more efficient with Transphorm's power conversion module, but the need for cooling tech would be reduced as well. We could all benefit from this because data centers, which use a lot of energy, are demanding more supply from the grid every year.
Owners of electric vehicles and hybrids may eventually benefit too. Transphorm's tech could extend the range of batteries. Or, as VentureBeat notes, it could help reduce the size of the battery for a lighter car. Paranoia surrounding the range of an EV battery is one major stumbling block. So, this new tech could lead to more EV car sales.
As Transphorm puts it -- and explains with the graphic above -- "More than 10 percent of all electricity is ultimately lost due to conversion inefficiencies. The scale of this loss exceeds the world's entire supply of renewable generation by an order of magnitude." Meaning if we can capture that lost energy, it would be more beneficial than solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy combined.
There are other companies out there that have developed tech to convert power more efficiently. But these companies use silicon, while Transphorm uses gallium nitride -- the same meterial used in LEDs lights -- for its semiconductor chips. Transphorm says this material is what allows it to push the boundaries of efficiency above 90 percent.
Challenges, of course, remain. The biggest among them is scaling up the product and reducing its cost. Transphorm is clearly confident in its technology and ability to reduce costs. But a better measure of its future is the $38 million the company has raised so far from Google Ventures as well as high-profile VC firms like Kleiner Perkins and Lux Capital.
Photo from Flickr user Ian Muttoo, CC 2.0
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