Novel solar panels and other amenities at Google's new complex in Mountain View

Google logoPhoto by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash

Google's new Bay View complex is slated to open towards the end of 2021. The complex is being built at the NASA Ames Research Center. It will be located at the corner of Lomax Lane and Wright Avenue. The East Bay Times had a recent article on how Google's new Mountain View complex is going to be green and carbon-free.

Part of being green is the incorporation of dragon-scale solar panels on the canopy rooftop of the new Google building. This would ensure that geothermal piles beneath the office complex would aid in heating and cooling the building during hot and cold weather. In addition, the rooftop will be sprawling and tent-like.

Google wants to unlock geothermal power. In May, Chief Executive Officer of Alphabet, Sundar Pichai spoke at Google's I/O conference and introduced the concept of new types of ways to go green. At the conference, Sundar Pichai stated,

We can unlock geothermal power in a broad range of new places. One of these applications is slated to occur in Silicon Valley. It's happening right here in Mountain View. We are building our new campus to the highest sustainable standards. - CEO Sundar Pichai

Amenities at the new complex

Google had planned their Bayview campus as far back as 2013. The complex is slated to cover an area of 1.1 million square feet and will be connected by bridges. There will be greenery on some of the roofs and Google employees will be in close proximity to each other so that they don't need to walk for more than two-and-a-half minutes to meet. As techies love coffeehouses, there will also be many cafes onsite.

Dragon scale solar panels

The Dragon scale solar cells are a relatively novel technology. It includes individually, interconnected cells of silicon that can be meshed into any shape or form. They have several advantages such as being lightweight, flexible, resilient, reliable, and able to overcome the low-voltage limitations of rigid solar cells.

It is not surprising that Google would only be involved in the latest technologies. Google's new complex with the dragon scale solar panels is purported to be the first of its kind.

Going green

The new complex will utilize geothermal energy by having geothermal piles driven into the ground so that heat could be transferred into the building or released as energy back into the ground.

We need to go beyond wind and solar and tap into sources of on-demand clean energy like geothermal - CEO of Alphabet, Sundar Pichai

Changes in Mountain View

With the new complex being built, Google will continue to have an enormous influence on real estate in the area. Google wants to maintain a relationship with the Mountain View community. Mountain View is certainly happy that Google is investing so much in the area. It could bring about more businesses and more employees may move to Mountain View.

It will be interesting to see the changes in Mountain View after the new Google complex opens at the end of this year.

Sources: Marketingland, Socotra Capital, Silicon Valley

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