General Electric and Google announced on Wednesday they’re teaming up to promote renewable energy, specifically geothermal energy and plug-in hybrids, and spur better investment and swifter government action to create “smart,” more efficient electrical grids. In recent years, both enormous companies have announced big green investments: GE launched its Ecomagination initiative in 2005 to expand its spending on greener technology to some $25 billion by 2010, and last year, Google announced a similar program with a smaller budget and a slightly more specific focus called Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal to, well … you know. “Both companies believe that our economic, environmental, and security challenges require that we use electricity more efficiently, generate it from cleaner sources, and electrify our transportation fleet,” the companies said in a joint statement. Google CEO Eric Schmidt and GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt also called on Congress to continue funding the renewable-energy tax credit that’s set to expire this year.
