I don't know about you, but I'm kind of inclined to sit up and listen to someone who self-describes himself as a "green energy czar" no matter how pretentious I think the title. So, that's why I'm perched in front of my notebook computer late on a Tuesday night, reading Google.org Green Energy Czar Bill Weihl's commentary about his organization's new research covering why new clean energy is worth the investment. Actually the blog is signed by both Weihl and Charles Baron, from the Google.org Clean Energy Team. Google has invested plenty of money in this area -- nearly $1 billion -- so it had better be sure that there is a payoff.

The data that Google uses was crunched with the McKinsey Low Carbon Economics tool, which calculates the potential economic impact of certain technologies based on both policy and innovation. The research that the Google energy team has created and analyzed focuses on potential long-term economic impacts for the United States ASSUMING certain breakthroughs (policy and technology) for technologies including wind, geothermal, energy storage, and electric vehicles. The Google team is studying two primary time frames: 2030 and 2050.

The resulting 28-page report, called "The Impact of Clean Energy," models three different scenarios for each sort of green technology being considered: a business as usual situation; a "Clean Policy" world in which existing or proposed federal policies are passed, including the Clean Energy Standard (calling for a certain portfolio of renewables), the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations, and others; and a world in which the power sector is levied a $30/ton price on carbon. The complete methodology is extensive and full of disclaimers, so make sure you read it!

Here are some report highlights: