Energy efficiency and the white space spectrum have come together thanks to Google, a young company specializing in wireless tech, and an electric utility that also deals in telecommunications.  The organizations announced that the first smart grid wireless network trial is underway.

Google – along with 46 other organizations – is pressing harder than ever for progress in terms of informing consumers about their energy consumption.  Google – and those 46 other entities – wrote a letter to the president today, asking for his help in the matter.

Remember when Google was just a search engine? We often still think about it that way, yet we are frequently reminded of the breadth of product offerings and ultimately the power the company possesses. Power, or energy rather, is actually something Google could end up selling in the future.

Over the past couple of years, Google’s made several moves that implied a sort of fascination with electricity.  There was the RE<C ("renewable energy cheaper than coal") initiative, its fleet of plug-in hybrids, and the development of the PowerMeter, for example.  Now, Google’s checked in with an update about the smart grid.

Don’t scan this article for completion dates, price tags, or anything of that sort (and don’t bother clicking on the link and doing the same on the other side, either).  Google didn’t provide information along those lines.

Google is ramping up its efforts to allow consumers to see how much energy they use in real time with a tool it is testing called Google PowerMeter.

Eventually Google plans to make PowerMeter available to consumers who have homes equipped with advanced energy meters called "smart meters" There are about 40 million smart meters in use globally and plans are in the works to add another 100 million over the next few years.

Times Online ran an article citing several studies about Internet use and the consumption of energy. Information used for this report suggested that Google searches are responsible for a large amount of CO2 emissions.  The article reads:

Green is the new black; math is the new cool; and Google CEO Eric Schmidt has some formulas for increasing energy efficiency, job creation, money saving, and how the Internet will fend off global warming.

The search advertising company sent one of its public policy mavens to Washington DC to talk about energy technology, and call for better federal support for new initiatives in that field.