The Google.org superefficient car

I have already blogged extensively about Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, and its director Larry Brilliant - mostly because I find Brilliant's plan for an Internet-based system to rapidly detect disease outbreaks, which he outlined at TED last February, very compelling (see my original post from the conference or Brilliant's inspiring TEDprize speech in video).

A story today in the New York Times and the Herald Tribune reveals a second project that Google.org is working on: "the organization is aiming to develop an extremely fuel-efficient, plug-in hybrid car engine that runs on ethanol, electricity and gasoline". It "has arranged for the purchase of a small fleet of cars with plans to convert the engines so that their gas mileage exceeds 100 miles per gallon, or about 42 kilometers per liter".

The same article also reports that Google.org is "drawing skepticism for both its structures and its ambitions", mostly because the structure is an unusual mix of non-profit and for-profit. Nothing new there: Brilliant already explained it in a Wired interview in July:

We are not really a foundation. It’s a bit of a 501(c)3, a bit of a C corp, and a bit of an academic environment. I can play more of the keys on the keyboard. A 501(c)3 can’t lobby. A 501(c)3 can’t invest in a company or build an industry. It may be that the only way to deal with climate change is to create an industry or build companies.

The non-profit Google Foundation, endowed with $90 million, is therefore just one component of Google.org. The rest of the one-billion-plus given to Google.org is for-profit money. "The for-profit status will greatly increase their philanthropy's range and flexibility", explains the reporter, quoting Brilliant: "we can start companies, build industries, pay consultants, lobby, give money to individuals, and make a profit".

Or lose it: "the emphasis is on social returns, not economic returns". Which reminds of the principles behind the Skoll Foundation's financing of Hollywood movies.

(Cross-posted on the TEDblog)