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Larry Brilliant.

Google.org is the charitable arm of Internet search engine company Google.

The organization has committed $75 million in investments and grants as of January 2008. To fund the organization, Google granted them 3 million shares during their initial public offering. As of December 8, 2008, at a price of $310, Google.org's 3 million shares have an approximate value of about $1 billion. Google has also pledged to contribute one percent of their annual profits to their charitable organizations.^[1]

Among its first projects is to develop a mass produced plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that can attain 100 mpg (miles per gallon) (see vehicle-to-grid).^[2]

In November 2007, Google.org announced RE<C (Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal), a project that will invest upwards of several hundred million dollars in order to produce renewable energy at a profit from wind and solar sources, particularly solar thermal energy. RE<C, as the name suggests, has the ultimate goal of creating more than a gigawatt of power (enough to power a city the size of San Francisco) from renewable sources that would be cheaper than energy produced from coal.^[3]

The director as of 2007 was Dr. Larry Brilliant.^[4]. Brilliant stepped down in 2009 and was replaced by Megan Smith, Google's Vice-President of new business development.^[5]

Major initiatives

Google.org's five major initiatives, announced in January 2008, are:^[6]

• Develop Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal (RE<C): create utility-scale electricity from clean renewable energy sources that is cheaper than electricity produced from coal.
• Accelerate the Commercialization of Plug-In Vehicles (RechargeIT): seed innovation, demonstrate technology, inform the debate, and stimulate market demand to foster mass commercialization of plug-in vehicles.
• Predict and Prevent: identify "hot spots" and enable rapid response to emerging threats, such as infectious disease and climate risk.
• Inform and Empower to Improve Public Services: use information to empower citizens and communities, providers, and policymakers to improve the delivery of essential public services (such as education, health, water and sanitation) in the developing world.
• Fuel the Growth of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: increase the flow of risk capital to small and medium-sized businesses in the developing world.

Renewable energy

In 2008, Google.org joined a number of renewable energy initiatives, including:

• investing $130 million in eSolar for solar thermal plants
• presenting at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum-Wall Street, held June 18–19, 2008 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Google.org Climate Change and Energy Initiatives Director, Dan Reicher, will chair the opening remarks^[7].
• investing $10 million in Makani Power for kite systems that tap into jetstreams
• Filing a patent application for floating data centers powered by wave power.^[8]
• invested in AltaRock Energy, first U.S. demonstration project of Enhanced Geothermal Systems to create renewable energy through geothermal power.^[9]

Google Foundation

Google.org also manages the Google Foundation.^[10] The foundation was founded earlier, with Google's help and with similar stated goals, and is a non-profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.

Its board consists of Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The two officer positions, besides Brilliant's as executive director, are both held by Gregory Miller, Google.org's Senior Advisor & Chief of Investments.

Google contributes services of some of its own employees to the foundation's work, and also funded the foundation with $90 million late in 2005.

See also

• Low cost solar cell
• v2g
• Google PowerMeter
• The Final Inch

References

External links

• Google.org
• Google Foundation
• Project 10 to the 100th (10¹⁰⁰ = googol)