December 8th, 2009 | by Jamie Yood | published in Google.org
Last Monday, we hosted experts from the U.S. Department of Energy, MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Nth Power and Google for a discussion on clean energy innovation in our San Francisco office. The panelists focused on the important role innovation plays i…
November 20th, 2009 | by Niki Fenwick | published in Google.org
(Condensed Remarks from the 2009 California Cleantech Open) There are still power plants operating today that Thomas Edison could have seen with his own eyes. If he were to tour our electrical grid, he would recognize that too. As former Secretary of…
October 27th, 2009 | by Niki Fenwick | published in Google.org
Electricity consumers in the United Kingdom can now access Google PowerMeter, a free software tool that provides consumers with information on how much energy their home is using. The software receives information from utility smart meters and in-home …
October 27th, 2009 | by Jamie Yood | published in Google.org
(Cross-posted from the Google Public Policy Blog)President Obama today announced $3.4 billion in federal stimulus funding to build a “smarter” electricity grid. The funds are the largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history, acco…
October 26th, 2009 | by Jamie Yood | published in Google.org
The first outbreak of the new “swine flu” strain, now known as H1N1, earlier this year in Mexico caught the world by surprise. Public health officials around the world tried to stop the virus at the borders but were largely helpless. Shortly after, on …
October 15th, 2009 | by Jamie Yood | published in Google.org
As a relatively new philanthropy ourselves, Google.org continues to explore innovative and sustainable solutions to improving the lives and livelihoods of people in the developing world. This exploration often brings us into dialogue with many start-u…
October 7th, 2009 | by Niki Fenwick | published in Google.org
The Google PowerMeter team is pleased to announce an important milestone for our product — open enrollment. This means that utilities can enable self-serve sign-up for customers to use the Google PowerMeter gadget. More users means improved feedback …
September 1st, 2009 | by Jamie Yood | published in Google.org
Well, there’s now an app for that.Today Google.org grantee HealthMap launched a new iPhone application called “Outbreaks Near Me” available for free download.Curious about what disease outbreaks have been reported in your neighborhood? Or maybe in that…
August 12th, 2009 | by Jamie Yood | published in Google.org
When we launched our Geo Challenge Grants project last fall, we hoped our small grants program would provide nonprofits with the impetus and resources they need to take advantage of powerful online mapping tools like Google Earth and Google Maps. We w…
August 7th, 2009 | by Niki Fenwick | published in Google.org
Ever since college, I’ve been driving the same car: a 2000 Nissan XTerra. It’s been a great car and, after more than 100,000 miles, it has a lot of memories: a ski trip to Lake Tahoe through a blizzard, driving down the I5 to Los Angeles, driving acro…
August 6th, 2009 | by Niki Fenwick | published in Google.org
In 2007 Google.org launched our Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal initiative and announced a $10 million investment in the early-stage clean power company eSolar, Inc. Yesterday in Southern California, eSolar flipped the switch on what is to be the f…
August 6th, 2009 | by Jamie Yood | published in Google.org
(Cross-posted from the Public Policy Blog)It’s no surprise that the cheapest and most available solution to the climate problem is simply to use energy more efficiently. But a recent study issued by McKinsey & Co. details just how compelling an opp…
August 3rd, 2009 | by Jamie Yood | published in Google.org
An international group of scientists, including Dr. Nathan Wolfe and the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative (GVFI), announced today their discovery of the origins of the deadliest form of human malaria – Plasmodium falciparim. The falciparim parasite…
July 30th, 2009 | by Jamie Yood | published in Google.org
Global Health Corps (GHC) places recent university graduates to year-long assignments with public health organizations. Last night members of the Google.org team were delighted to celebrate the inaugural class of Global Health Corps Fellows as they ass…
July 29th, 2009 | by Jamie Yood | published in Google.org
Recently I was in Cambodia with a group of Googlers for “Gcamp” at the Royal University of Phnom Penh when the country’s first H1N1 (swine flu) case was discovered – a 16-year old American girl on an exchange student visit. The pandemic had traveled th…