Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Dutch wind for a Dutch data centre
Friday, September 18, 2015
This week, our infrastructure and energy team visited Delfzijl, a blustery coastal town in the far north of the Netherlands. They were there to inaugurate a brand new windfarm built by Dutch power utility Eneco, which will provide renewable energy for the new 600m euro data centre that we’re building just 30 kilometers away at the Eemshaven.
The inauguration comes just ten months after we signed a power purchase agreement with Eneco, which commits us to buying the entire output of the windfarm for the next ten years. It ensures that our new data centre will be powered 100% by locally generated, renewable energy from day one of operation, scheduled for the first half of 2016.
The Dutch agreement is one of four such power purchase agreements (PPA) that we have signed in Europe. Three are in Northern Sweden, where we’ve
bought enough wind power
to ensure that our data centre in Hamina, Finland runs 100% on renewables. The most recent of these deals was signed in March 2015, buying the output of a new windfarm located at Maevaara, whose construction was financed by Allianz Capital.
We continue to look for more opportunities in this space because we believe that power purchase agreements make great sense for our business and our commitment to being a carbon neutral company. Long-term purchasing gives us energy price stability. Purchasing wind power guarantees a long term source of clean energy for our data centres. And purchasing only from new renewable energy generation facilities increases the amount of renewable energy available in the grid, which is great for the environment too.
Posted by Francois Sterin, Director, Global Infrastructure Team
Vote now open in France’s Google Impact Challenge
Thursday, September 17, 2015
In April we launched the
Google Impact Challenge
in France, inviting all French non-profits and foundations to share their ideas for how they would use technology and grant funding from
Google.org
to make a better world, faster.
We received hundreds of ideas from non-profits across France and were blown away by the creativity, passion, and innovation we saw in the submissions. It was tough to narrow the field, but today we’re happy to share the 10 finalists and ask for your help in choosing which non-profit should receive a €500,000 grant and mentoring from Google to help bring their project to life. Cast your vote now at
g.co/impactchallengefrance
.
The 10 finalists are:
1001fontaines
is developing an entrepreneur-driven network of water purification stations in rural areas to give people access to clean water.
Agence du Don en Nature
is enabling consumer product donations directly on e-commerce sites and redistributing them to populations in need.
Banque Alimentaire du Rhône is building a matching platform for retailers to share unsold food directly with nonprofits to fight against hunger and food waste.
Libraries without Borders
is rolling out the Ideas Box, a portable media center that provides access to information, education and culture for refugees emerging from humanitarian crisis situations.
My Human Kit
is enabling people in need of prosthetics to have access to low-cost, open-source 3D printed models.
Jaccede.com
is crowdsourcing accessibility ratings of public places to empower people living with a physical disability.
MakeSense
is building a platform to enable social entrepreneurs to tap into the skills and talent of the community to help them scale their ideas.
Ticket For Change
is developing a unique online curriculum to help social entrepreneurs more quickly realise their ideas.
Voxe.org
is developing an app that will reengage citizens in politics by providing tailored political information.
Y Generation Education
is creating a unique online vocational education training curriculum for underprivileged youth.
Your votes will help decide which of these projects gets up and running in a big way. Vote now for the ideas that most inspire you, and stay tuned for the announcement of the winners on October 8th. Good luck to all of the finalists!
Posted by Jacquelline Fuller, Director, Google.org
Matching your donation to humanitarian relief for refugees and migrants
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Cross-posted from the
Official Google Blog
My name is Rita Masoud and I am a refugee. I was born in war-torn Kabul, Afghanistan. When I was seven, my family and I fled to Europe with our belongings in a single suitcase, hoping for a safer and better future. Our journey involved many dark train and bus rides, as well as hunger, thirst, cold and fear. Fortunately, we received asylum in The Netherlands, where I grew up in a safe environment and was able to find my way in life. Today, I work for Google in California.
I was lucky. But as the refugee and migrant crisis has grown, many people like my family are desperate for help. Last week, Google announced a €1 million (~$1.1 million) donation to organizations who are providing front-line humanitarian relief to refugees and migrants around the world. Today, we're inviting you to
join us
. To double the impact of your contribution, we’ll match the first €5 million (~$5.5 million) in donations globally, until together we raise €10 million (~$11 million) for relief efforts.
Your donation will be distributed to four nonprofits providing aid to refugees and migrants:
Doctors Without Borders
,
International Rescue Committee
,
Save the Children
and
UN High Commissioner for Refugees
. These nonprofits are helping deliver essential assistance—including shelter, food and water, and medical care—and looking after the security and rights of people in need.
Visit
g.co/refugeerelief
to make your donation. Thank you for giving.
En route from Afghanistan, with my family and some belongings. You can read more about my journey
on my blog
.
Posted by Rita Masoud, Product Marketing Manager, Google.org
What makes us Human?
Monday, September 14, 2015
Cross-posted from the
Official Google Blog
Over the past three years, filmmaker and artist Yann Arthus-Bertrand travelled to 60 countries, interviewing more than 2,000 people in dozens of languages, in an attempt to answer the question: What is it that makes us human? The result is
HUMAN
, a documentary film that weaves together a rich collection of stories from freedom fighters in Ukraine, farmers in Mali, death row inmates in the United States, and more—on topics that unite us all: love, justice, family, and the future of our planet.
Now we’re partnering with Arthus-Bertrand, the Goodplanet Foundation and Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, to bring HUMAN to you on Google Play, YouTube and the Google Cultural Institute so we can share this project with the widest audience throughout the world.
Watch an extended version of the film on YouTube and Google Play
We’re making HUMAN available on YouTube starting September 12, and later on Google Play. This “director’s cut”of three 90-minute films will be available in Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. On YouTube, you can also watch extra footage including interviews with figures like United Nations Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon, animal rights activist Jane Goodall and actress Cameron Diaz, all of whom participated in the film.
Explore HUMAN with the Google Cultural Institute
Over at the
Google Cultural Institute
, you can learn about the origin of the film and listen to anecdotes from the people who brought it to life. You can also meet the characters in and around the movie in their daily lives, with six exhibits of behind the scenes photos and videos that let you explore how HUMAN was made over three years. This includes a collection highlighting how the director shot the aerial views that are a signature of Arthus-Bertrand’s filmmaking.
Exhibitions on Google the Cultural Institute platform
Learn more about this project at
g.co/humanthemovie
or on the
HUMAN Behind The Scenes mobile app
, available on Google Play. With HUMAN, we want to help citizens around the world connect together. So we’d like to hear your answer to the question of what makes us human. Add your voice to the conversation with #WhatMakesUsHUMAN.
Posted by Raphael Goumain, Head of Consumer Marketing, France
Helping the next generation prepare for the jobs of the future
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Our lives are being transformed by technology, and so too are the jobs of the future, across a whole range of industries - from design to medicine to music and more. That’s why we’ve teamed up with the
BBC’s Make It Digital
team and
The Tech Partnership
to launch the
Make It Digital Matchr
, a new tool to help young people explore a wide range of digital career opportunities.
Aimed primarily at 16-19 year olds, the interactive tool uses the the latest research from The Tech Partnership to match users with the right resources, either from the BBC or one of many partners like Teen Tech, Raspberry Pi, Code Club, Khan Academy and more, to help them develop their skills.
Young people using the tool are asked how they would handle a range of situations involved in developing a fictional game. Their answers reveal their natural strengths and inclinations, helping Matchr find suitable digital careers they may be interested in, and presenting them with resources to help set them on their way.
The opportunity for young people is huge. The Tech Partnership today released a study which found that the number of tech specialists in the UK is forecast to grow at almost four times that of the workforce as a whole between 2014 and 2024. And the European Commission
estimates
that there will be more than 800,000 unfilled digital job vacancies across Europe by 2020 if we don’t close the skills gap - which is something else we’re working on, via our commitment earlier this year to
train 1 million Europeans
in crucial digital skills by 2016.
We hope that the
Digital Matchr
and the Make it Digital campaign inspires the next generation about to start coding and get creative with technology.
Posted by Eileen Naughton, UK Managing Director, Google
A little Street View-style greeting to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Today, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II becomes the longest reigning monarch in the UK.
To mark this momentous occasion, we'd like to welcome a new character to Google Maps at Buckingham Palace Street View - introducing PegMa'am.
PegMa'am can be found to guide you through Street View at any of the royal properties in the UK. Visit
Google Maps
to become acquainted.
Congratulations, Your Majesty.
Posted by: Laurian Clemence, Communications Manager, Google UK
A donation to humanitarian relief for refugees and migrants
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa are facing a refugee and migrant crisis - the world’s biggest since the Second World War. According to the
UNHCR
, thirty-eight European countries recorded 264,000 asylum applications, an increase of 24% compared to the same period of 2013. Given the severity of this crisis, we want to play our part in helping relieve the plight of refugees and migrants around the world.
[Photo credit: UNHCR]
Google.org
is donating €1M to organisations who are providing front-line humanitarian relief to migrants and refugees, such as
International Rescue Committee
,
Médecins Sans Frontières
,
UNHCR
and
Aktion Deutschland Hilft
. These organisations are providing essential assistance, including shelter, food and water, and medical care, to people in dire need.
In addition, we are creating a public site to help people make their own donations and are matching Googler donations as well.
Posted by Jacqueline Fuller, Director, Google.org
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