Nov. 28, 2007 Google is set to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to research and develop new renewable energy sources that produce electricity more cheaply than coal.

Google says its new initiative, called RE<C, is a strategic move designed to "generate positive returns" over the long term.

"If....large-scale renewable deployments are cheaper than coal, the world will have the option to meet a substantial portion of electricity needs from renewable sources and significantly reduce carbon emissions," says Google co-founder Larry Page. "We expect this would be a good business for us as well."

The company says it will not be replacing its core search-engine business with renewable-energy technology anytime soon. Rather, it is applying lessons learned from past successes to this new area of opportunity.

"We have gained expertise in designing and building large-scale, energy-intensive facilities by building efficient data centers," Page says. "We want to apply the same creativity and innovation to the challenge of generating renewable electricity at globally significant scale."

Google is hiring a team of engineers and energy experts to explore new technologies in the areas of solar thermal, wind power, and geothermal energy. The company's philanthropic arm, Google.org, is also offering research grants to organizations in the renewables field, including companies, R&D laboratories, and universities.

Earlier this year, Google pledged to offset all of its greenhouse gas emissions from 2007 onward, and says it is still on track to meet this goal.