Google – Harilal Krishna – 2023
Goals
Google has long been a champion of sustainability. With its Net Zero and 24/7 Carbon Free Electricity goals, Google is exploring all tools available to support those goals. Low-carbon liquid fuels can help abate emissions from aviation, backup power, and transportation operations. With few technological solutions currently in existence, Harilal Krishna was tasked to provide a landscape analysis of emerging low-carbon liquid fuels to guide Google’s strategy.
Solutions
To support Google’s low carbon liquid fuels strategy, Harilal developed recommendations in three parallel work streams by:
- Providing a better understanding of the state of low carbon fuels and conversion pathways, including likely cost of production and cost of abatement trajectories
- Developing a tool to calculate the levelized cost of production of fuels
- Mapping the low-carbon liquid fuel landscape to identify key policies and players that could be relevant to Google’s strategy
Potential Impact
This assessment will help Google gain visibility into emerging low-carbon fuel pathways and support Google’s Net Zero strategy. Harilal’s assessment of each pathway will help Google prioritize technologies in the adoption of liquid fuels. The Climate Ops team will benefit from Harilal’s analysis by gaining a better understanding of the different low-carbon fuel pathways and the policies that support them, which will strengthen their ability to engage with suppliers.
The levelized cost calculator will improve decision-making on select pathways both regarding catalytic investments and offtake.
