Google will use its clout as the world’s biggest internet company to lobby for policy change on alternative energy.

The group has already invested $45 million (£25.5 million) backing start-up companies that are trying to develop wind, solar and geothermal technologies. The investment has been made through Google.org. its philanthropic arm.

Eric Schmidt, chief executive of Google, announced a plan to help to wean the United States off coal and oil by 2030. The proposal also includes cutting oil use for cars by 40 per cent within the period.

In his paper, Where would Google drill?, Mr Schmidt explained that while such a transition would cost trillions of dollars, in the long run it would save money. He also said that the annual cost was expected to be less than the $700 billion offered to bail out Wall Street.

Part of the Google plan includes stricter building codes, a commitment to wind and solar tax credits and a carbon tax. The group is also lobbying for an upgrade of the national power grid network, which would include householders having meters that would let them see how much energy they consumed.

Drawing a comparison between the energy and banking crises, Mr Schmidt said of America’s financial catastrophe: “That is an unconscionable failure of system design. It is inconceivable to me that the sum of the financial industry would have created that as a possible outcome.”

At the same time, Mr Schmidt refused to be drawn on how the credit crisis may affect Google’s business model, other than to say that the internet search engine had not, so far, felt any economic impact.

Google is one of a growing number of businesses to have released plans for alternative energy, having seen their operating costs and demand levels affected by the persistently high oil price.

Google forecast that new efficiency standards for computers would cut energy consumption significantly by 2010. Mr Schmidt said that the search engine was already trying to improve its own servers and had identified a number of different ways of reducing energy consumption within its buildings.

Alongside his responsibilities as chief executive of Google, Mr Schmidt is also a business adviser to Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate.

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