Cloud Power: Google and Microsoft Executives Take Stage at Commonwealth Club's Climate One

SAN FRANCISCO, March 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the most heated corporate battles amongst technology companies in recent years has been between Google and Microsoft. While these tech giants usually square off on Internet-related issues, executives from each company are coming together at the Commonwealth Club's Climate One for a rare conversation on how technology and cloud computing can help address the challenges of energy use and environmental sustainability. Rob Bernard, Microsoft's Chief Environmental Strategist, and Bill Weihl, Google's Green Energy Czar, will discuss whether the move from desktop to cloud computing can result in energy savings and how those savings could be measured.  With datacenters using more than four percent of U.S. plug load power – and this number expected to double in the coming years – the IT sector will be under increasing scrutiny to reduce energy use and curb greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to sharing what each company is doing internally on the environmental front, Bernard and Weihl will also discuss how Microsoft and Google are helping people and organizations measure and cut their energy use.

As Chief Environmental Strategist for Microsoft, Rob Bernard is responsible for defining and implementing the global strategy for the company's environmental efforts. Rob has been with Microsoft for more than 12 years and has served in roles ranging from marketing to business and technical management.  Prior to Microsoft, Rob Bernard spent nearly 10 years in the construction and building management industry.  He holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Columbia University.

As the Green Energy Czar at Google, Bill Weihl leads engineering efforts in renewable energy and energy efficiency while managing the company's carbon footprint. Before joining Google in early 2006, he was Chief Architect and CTO of Akamai Technologies. He also has worked on distributed and parallel computing and on CPU architecture, first as a professor of Computer Science at MIT and then as a research scientist at DEC's Systems Research Center.

SOURCE Climate One