The study is interesting but actual deployment of any strategy is still out of Google's control, so I fear this tool will live as little more than an academic exercise, same as similar tools coming from academia, supernational organizations and biased lobbies. That said, Google is also actively investing in electricity generation and that kind of effort may come more useful, if pursued with determination, so we will see where they actually put their money, other than their mouth.
These tools are really compelling to me. I was dubious that a carbon tax would be sufficient to motivate substantial change, but it looks to me like a $40/ton carbon tax would drastically improve carbon emissions, and a $100/ton tax would virtually eliminate it.
I think as a way of exploring regulatory goals they're fascinating - very few situations does someone set up a simulation of the impact of a law and give laypeople knobs and buttons to play with to see how it would work.
