[hueving]

That's not the "usual way" it's used. If I want to use solar power for my home, I don't contribute to a fund building solar panels on a different continent and claim I'm "using renewable energy". However, that's exactly what google is doing here.

[greglindahl]

Some people put solar panels on their home, other people pay someone else to install solar panels elsewhere. It's extremely common for businesses to choose the second, even if homeowners mostly choose the first.

[axman6]

Yeah I'm sorry this is complete nonsense, this is exactly how it works and has always worked. If Google pays for renewables to be produced, uses some energy that happened to be produced at a coal plant but someone else uses the energy from the solar/wind farm, then the benefit of using renewables has been materialised. It's not a hard concept, but somehow people struggle with the idea.