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Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm, has taken a number of stakes in solar and wind startups over the past year, most recently joining a $115 million investment in solar thermal firm BrightSource Energy. It now seems to be focusing its attention on the bustling geothermal energy sector, with Google co-founder Sergey Brin recently expressing a strong interest in Ormat, a geothermal startup headquartered in Reno, Nevada.

During an interview with the Israeli newspaper, The Marker, Brin confirmed that his company was in discussions with Ormat to collaborate on several clean energy projects, calling the startup a “great company” and praising it for its potential to turn geothermal energy “into a big business.” Though he wouldn’t say whether Google was in talks to purchase any Israeli cleantech companies, he did say that the conditions were good for his firm to buy companies in 2009. He said there were a lot of interesting companies that worked in renewable energy and electric cars — perhaps a nod to Shai Agassi’s Project Better Place.

According to Haaretz, senior executives at Google have already met with their counterparts from Ormat twice, and Larry Page recently visited one of the company’s plants in Steamboat Hills, Nevada. Ormat chairman Lucien Bronicki said he and Google officials were pushing legislation in the U.S. advocating more R&D for advanced geothermal technology. Ormat announced in February that it would work with the DOE and several geothermal companies — GeothermEx and Pinnacle Technologies — to test Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) technology at its 11 megawatt Desert Peak facility.

The DOE has committed $1.6 million to support the project, which could eventually yield over 50 MW of power. The partnership will test hot fractured rock (HFR) technology to attempt to increase the output of its geothermal wells. Sydney, Australia-based Geodynamics, which I wrote about a few weeks ago, has been on the forefront with this technology and is nearing the completion of a 50 MW demonstration plant to supply up to 75,000 people by 2012.

Ormat has several existing projects in Guatemala, Kenya and Nicaragua is considered the world leader in geothermal energy.

In addition to making a series of high-profile investments in eSolar, BrightSource and Makani Power as part of its RE<C initiative, Google has also donated over $1 million in grants to support plug-in vehicle adoption. The foundation’s RechargeIT initiative recently gave $200,000 to CalCars.org. Page said Google.org’s goal is to produce 1 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity from wind, geothermal and solar thermal sources cheaper than coal, an objective he and Brin are optimistic will be met in years, rather than decades.

Updated

In one of the more eye-opening investment moves we’ve seen lately, Google has invested $3.9 million into a biotech company run by Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s new wife.

VentureBeat’s life sciences blogger, David Hamilton, who formerly covered biotech for the WSJ, has done some digging and has the full story (see here).

Called 23andme, the Mountain View, Calif. company is run by Anne Wojcicki. It lets people take DNA tests to find out about themselves, and even how they may relate to others. It has raised around $10 million from New Enterprise Associates, Mohr Davidow Ventures and biotechnology giant Genentech.

He found some interesting blurbs:

“By connecting you to others, we can also help put your genome into the larger context of human commonality and diversity,” the company says (our emphasis added).

Most notably, David writes of a blog post by entrepreneur Martin Varsavsky, who we’ve heard is well-informed about the project (Update: Indeed, we’ve since confirmed Varsavsky is an investor; he comments below):

Maverick tech entrepreneur Martin Varsavsky, for instance, wrote on his blog in January that 23andMe will take in saliva samples through the mail, then subject them to a fast and relatively inexpensive genetic analysis. That data, he suggested, would go into a database that people could search for both personal and scientific reasons — a vision that, if true, would also help explain Google’s involvement, given the company’s oft-stated desire to index all of human knowledge…

This shouldn’t be surprising. Google has long been fascinated with various far-out projects, from building a chip for the brain, to constructing an elevator that would go into space. It has had Genentech CEO Art Levinson on its board since it went public, so a sensible DNA search-related project like this makes relative sense.

Update: The Mercury News’ Elise Ackerman has a story on the perception of conflict of interest. Google says Brin recused himself from the acquisition discussions and that a separate committee made the decision, based on several criteria. She also talks to several corporate governance watchdogs.

(UPDATED: see below.) 23andMe, a stealthy Mountain View, Calif., “personal genetics” startup, has raised a first round of funding from some heavy hitters — Google, Genentech and two blue-chip VC firms, Mohr Davidow Ventures and New Enterprise Associates.

That’s some significant megatonnage for a low-profile and potentially controversial startup, although it all starts to make sense once you realize that Google co-founder Sergey Brin is newly married to 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki. In addition, Genentech CEO Art Levinson sits on Google’s board. Those insider ties triggered disclosure requirements for Google, which revealed its new $3.9 million stake in 23andMe earlier this afternoon in an SEC filing. Among other things, the financing allowed 23andMe to pay back $2.6 million it had previously borrowed from Brin.

23andMe didn’t disclose the overall size of the round, although I’m told it’s in the vicinity of $10 million. None of the four named investors officially took a lead role in the financing, according to Michael Goldberg, a Mohr Davidow partner.

According to the company’s bare-bones release, 23andMe aims to help people “access, explore and better understand” their own genetic profiles via the latest DNA-analysis techniques and Web-based software tools. (The company’s name is a play on the 23 pairs of chromosomes that carry each individual’s DNA.) That service isn’t likely to launch until the end of this year, and in the meantime, 23andMe officials aren’t talking.

Which is not to say that 23andMe’s business is a total mystery. The company’s Web site suggests that it will allow people to analyze their own genomes and then share or compare that information via social networks of some sort (emphasis added):

Even though your body contains trillions of copies of your genome, you’ve likely never read any of it. Our goal is to connect you to the 23 paired volumes of your own genetic blueprint (plus your mitochondrial DNA), bringing you personal insight into ancestry, genealogy, and inherited traits. By connecting you to others, we can also help put your genome into the larger context of human commonality and diversity.

Toward this goal, we are building on recent advances in DNA analysis technologies to enable broad, secure, and private access to trustworthy and accurate individual genetic information. Combined with educational and scientific resources with which to interpret and understand it, your genome will soon become personal in a whole new way.

How this will work in practice isn’t entirely clear, although there are hints scattered here and there. Maverick tech entrepreneur Martin Varsavsky, for instance, wrote on his blog in January that 23andMe will take in saliva samples through the mail, then subject them to a fast and relatively inexpensive genetic analysis. That data, he suggested, would go into a database that people could search for both personal and scientific reasons — a vision that, if true, would also help explain Google’s involvement, given the company’s oft-stated desire to index all of human knowledge. (An individual familiar with 23andMe told me that Varsavsky’s description sounds “well informed.”)

Mohr Davidow’s Goldberg explains that 23andMe hopes to stand at the intersection of “personalized medicine” and consumer-driven healthcare by offering individuals the tools they need to make medical decisions based on their genetic makeup. “Consumers have to become educated,” he says. “They have to understand that genetics isn’t scary science, that it’s all about what makes me who I am.”

Of course, no one knows at this point how people might react to the notion of storing — much less sharing — their genetic information online. Goldberg emphasized that 23andMe is “extraordinarily committed” to maintaining user privacy. It also can’t hurt that Congress appears poised to ban genetic discrimination with respect to employment and health insurance, which could do a lot to alleviate peoples’ anxiety about hanging out their genetic laundry online.

UPDATE: Turns out Martin Varsavsky is also a 23andMe investor. At least, that’s what he says on his blog. No wonder he’s “well informed.”

A long piece from Moment, entitled The Story of Sergey Brin, has just been published.

It is a tale about the Google co-founder, from his birth in Russia and move to the U.S and, finally, success at Google. Nothing earth-shattering, though we think the theme of chutzpah is stretched a little far. Keep in mind, Moment is a literary magazine for the American Jewish community. From the piece:

Does any company founded by two Jews, no matter how assimilated, necessarily retain some defining Jewish characteristics? The Google masterminds’ penchant for pushing boundaries—without asking permission—might as well be called chutzpah. However you label it, it’s an attitude that runs deeply through Google and may help explain why the company is embroiled in lawsuits over many of its new projects…

We hadn’t seen this sort of cultural interpretation before.

Round-up of the latest in Silicon Valley tech stuff:

Google-funded genetic start-up? — Anne Wojcicki, the biotech analyst who is reportedly engaged to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, has co-founded a Mountain View personal genetics startup, 23andMe, according to ValleyWag. According to the company’s site, it develops “tools and producing content to help people make sense of their genetic information. Our goal is to take advantage of new genotyping technologies and help consumers explore their genetics, informed by cutting edge science. We are now looking for talented, innovative individuals…”

How Yahoo blew it — In 2002, Yahoo was still bigger than Google, and was mulling over whether it should acquire the fast-growing company, but Yahoo chief exec Terry Semel choked, at least according to this Wired account by Fred Vogelstein:

“Five billion dollars, 7 billion, 10 billion. I don’t know what they’re really worth — and you don’t either,” he told his staff. “There’s no fucking way we’re going to do this!”

SearchMe launches yet another search engine — Palo Alto start-up, SearchMe has launched WikiSeek, which sounded useful when we first found out about it: It would index only Wikipedia sites, along with sites linked to by Wikipedia. Theoretically, that means only very useful links and little spam. We were let down, though, after trying a few searches. In at least this search, there was more spam than in Google’s equivalent search. We’ll see what else the two-year-old Palo Alto company comes up with; it has $5 million from Sequoia, and apparently it has more up its sleeve.

Moore’s Law intact after all? — Hewlett-Packard computer scientists say they’ve made elements of computer chips so small that they may enable an eightfold increase in the number of transistors on a chip, without making the transistors smaller, reports the Merc’s Therese Poletti. The scientists said their advance would equal a leap of three generations of Moore’s Law, a prediction formulated in 1964 by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore that forecast chip makers could double the number of transistors on a chip every couple of years. The validity of the law has been doubted recently, as we near the technical limits of making chips smaller.

Twilight Years for Silicon Valley legend — John Draper helped the young Apple co-founders with pranks, for example telling them how to create phone tones so they could make free long-distance calls. The WSJ embellishes, somewhat strangely, the story of his subsequent years (sub required).

Microsoft makes Windows Vista OS available for sale and download online — A first for Microsoft. Details.

How Myspace succeeded, in spite of itself – i.e, the bugs, crass design, disorder.