Google is in the news for some energy innovation:

these asphalt acres are getting their day in the sun, with search giant Google joining other companies in planting groves of pole-mounted solar panels between the rows of Saabs and SUVs, generating clean power and providing a little shade at the same time.

Google’s Mountain View, California, headquarters is getting a 1.6-megawatt solar system — enough to power about 1,000 homes — that will feed about 30 percent of the complex’s power demand.

I like the fact that someone realized that stringing together small arrays on roof-tops makes sense but should not be the limit, especially when you look out over a sea of perfectly flat parking spaces. I also thought of at least two benefits beyond those mentioned in the article:

1. Shading the asphalt and cars, which reduces wear from the sun and may even provide some shelter from rain. How dumb are we as a civilization to park cars on black asphalt and then run cooling systems to compensate, when harvesting the sun would achieve the same result with additional benefits?
2. Emergency-backup source of energy for business continuity.