Google Venture Capital Investing in Energy Efficiency

Filed in archive Best of on January 6, 2012

© Daniel Morris

Google is making a push into energy efficiency, as its venture capital investment arm has just made a $20 million investment in a start-up company called Transphorm. With this investment, Google is betting that the future of technology is not s ilicon, as the current AC to DC power conversions waste a lot of energy in the form of heat.

Transphorm claims that it can cut 90% of that waste by using a material called gallium nitrate instead of silicon. The technology is exciting not only because it saves energy, but the efficiencies also mean that smaller products are possible, eventually eliminating the need for power cords, converters, and the like. The legendary VC firm Kleiner Perkins is also investing in Transphorm alongside Google, because they believe that that the public cares about energy security. Transphorm claims that its technology could one day save enough energy to power the whole West Coast.