Mountain View (CA) - Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, has announced its first five major initiatives.

More than $26 million are given to organizations that are involved in developing renewable energy technologies, commercializing plug-in vehicles, supporting companies in third-world countries, improving public services as well as detecting emerging threats for humans. According to Google, these segments will be the focus of Google.org over the "next five to ten years".

"These five initiatives are our attempt to address some of the hard problems we as a world need to face in the coming decade," said Larry Brilliant, executive director of Google.org, in a prepared statement. "We have chosen them both because we think solving them will make a better, fairer, safer world for our children and grandchildren - and the children and grandchildren of people all over the world - but also because we feel that these core initiatives fit well with Google’s core strengths, especially its innovative technologies and its talented engineers and other Googlers, who are really our most valuable assets."

Three companies, InSTEDD, Global Health and Security Initiative and Clark University, received a total of $8.1 million from Google.org in an area that Google calls "Predict and Prevent". Google.org hopes that the grants will assist communities in predicting and preventing "events before they become local, regional, or global crises" and "by identifying hot spots and enabling a rapid response." The donation is "initially focused on Southeast Asia and tropical Africa" and problem areas such as SARS and bird flu.

Three more organizations, Pratham, the Centre for Budget and Policy Studies and the Center for Policy Research, all based in India, received $3.4 million with the goal "to improve the flow of vital information to improve basic services for the poor in India and East Africa."

$4.7 million went to TechnoServe to "support enterprises, spur job creation, and strengthen poverty alleviation programs globally, and to develop and implement a business plan competition to support entrepreneurs in Ghana and Tanzania."

Pasadena, Calif.-based eSolar got $10 million for its solar technology research. The grant is supporting Google’s previously announced initiative to produce "one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal, within years." eSolar’s technology has great potential to produce utility-scale power cheaper than coal, Google.org said.

Google.org said that it expects to grant another $10 million this fall as part of its RechargeIt initiative, which centers around the idea of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and vehicle-to-grid technology. A request for investment proposals has been handed out; the organization said that it will invest amounts ranging from $500,000 to $2 million in promising for-profit companies.