Search engine operator Google Inc. said Thursday it has eliminated over half its greenhouse gas emissions over the last 5 years and has compensated for the emissions it cannot eliminate with carbon offsets.

Google said it has purchased carbon offsets to neutralize all the emissions it generated in 2007 and part of the ones emitted in 2008 as part of its commitment made in 2007 to go emissions-neutral.

[Carbon offsets] provide a way for us to take responsibility for our emissions now, while we continue to advocate the development of utility-scale renewable energy, Bill Weihl, Google's Green Energy Czar wrote in a company blog.

For the future the company is planning to create 50 megawatts of new renewable generation capacity by 2012, enough energy to power 50,000 homes, CNET reports.

Google's green team will also focus on engineering technology solutions including programs for energy efficiency in transportation and IT.

The company says it will build and design some of the world's most efficient data centers as well as using onsite renewable energy to power its facilities.

Recently Google acquired a patent for floating data centers powered with wave energy generators. If put into use, the floating centers could be established on ships and in some cases onshore.

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