Brand War Reaps Clean Results

It seems that the ongoing battle for the title of the hippest, cleanest, most innovative tech company has defined its biggest contenders this year - Apple, Google, and Tesla.

Apple recently announced its plans to commit USD848 million to the California Flats Solar Project, to be completed by the end of 2016; of which, Apple will receive 130 megawatts power capacity under a 25-year power purchase agreement. Their goal is to, apparently, power all Apple corporate offices, retail stores and data centres with renewable energy - and this looks to be achieved fairly soon, as currently all data centres, and 86% of their corporate offices are powered this way.

Meanwhile, Google has announced their long term agreement to purchase wind energy to offset the electrical usage of its North Bayshore headquarters, involving the Altamont Pass Wind Farm. In January, Google also announced their partnership with Norwegian power company Scatec Solar to construct the biggest solar farm in Iron County, Utah. This is in line with their dedication to being carbon neutral, as outlined in a blog post from 2007, and is Google's 18th renewable energy investment project.

While Apple has held its place in the rankings of integrated, slick music players, smart phones, laptops and desktop computers, as Google have become legend in their own rights with their Android operating systems, optimized search engines and ambitious enterprises, the fight is heating up over a new consumer product: the driverless car.

But the new arena seems of be in the car industry; with Google working towards a 2017-2020 launch of their own driverless, electric car, and rumors of Apple's 'Titan' project running rampant - with images of unbranded, 'trial' driverless vehicles being spotted around California. Arguably, they have a good competitor in dark horse Tesla; whose electric car has gained a cult-like following and online status, with customers pegged as some of the most loyal since well, Apple.

So much so, that some have wondered why Apple has yet to attempt to buy Tesla Motors for themselves, and reap the benefits - but can anybody really complain about a little healthy competition in a clean-energy car race?

Image Reference: http://oilgroupbg.com/image/data/Car Battery.jpg