(Cross-posted on the Google for Nonprofits blog)

We’re pleased to announce the winners of the NGO Impact Award, a new award that recognizes Google Online Marketing Challenge student teams that made an outstanding difference to their nonprofit partners via superb online marketing campaigns. The deciding factors for these winners were the effectiveness of the campaign and a 200-word report on how the advertising impacted the nonprofit. The reports were judged by an independent panel of nonprofit leaders.

Prizes for the winners include:

• 1st place - $15,000 donation to the nonprofit partner
• 2nd place - $10,000 donation to the nonprofit partner
• 3rd place - $5,000 donation to the nonprofit partner

Congratulations to the following winners!

1st Place
Michael Albrecht and Christian Pfeifhofer taught by Dr. Horst Treiblmaier from Vienna University of Economics and Business worked with TrashDesignManufaktur. TrashDesignManufaktur is a non-profit organization in Vienna which offers unemployed persons the opportunity to learn new skills by up-cycling electronic waste and discarded machines into high-quality design objects, such as jewelry and furniture.

2nd Place
Sebastiano Comin, Simone Dolci, Elena Merazzi, Elena Moriondom and Giuseppe Scampa taught by Dr. Nicoletta Vittadini from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore collaborated with Istituto Oikos. Istituto Oikos works in Europe and in developing countries to advocate for and promote environmental conservation.

3rd Place
The team of Erin Blatzer, Lauren Davis, Carolina Thomas, and Jeffrei Clifton taught by Professor Steven Koch from University of Houston partnered with the Houston Symphony. The Symphony is one of America's oldest performing arts organizations and performs approximately 170 concerts each year for more than 350,000 Houstonians.

If you’re interested in being involved in next year’s Google Online Marketing Challenge NGO Impact award, stay tuned to our website.

Posted by Jessica Schwartz, Google AdWords Team

Permalink | Links to this post |  

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Turkey blog)

Right after the earthquake in Van, we offered our Person Finder service in Turkish. So far, 4500 people have been registered. We have now created a 2011 Van Earthquake Landing Page in Turkish as well, where we will share updated information about the Van Earthquake from a single source.

Through the Google Earthquake Map placed on the Van Earthquake Page, you will be able to see the epicenter of the earthquake and the affected areas; follow up on the areas waiting for support and their needs; and find contact details for Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) branches and disaster management centers if you are interested in sending help.

In addition to these resources, we will also be donating $500,000 to the Turkish Red Crescent through Google.org for providing support to the region.

Posted by Zeynep Inanoglu, on behalf of Google Turkey and the Google Crisis Response teams

Permalink | Links to this post |  

(Cross-posted from the Google Green blog)

Imagine a renewable energy resource capable of producing more than 10 times the energy of the installed capacity of coal in the US. That’s the potential for Geothermal Energy in the United States, according to a recently completed 3-year project supported by Google.org to update the Geothermal Map of North America.

The study conducted by SMU Geothermal Laboratory, led by Principal Investigator Dr. David Blackwell, incorporated tens of thousands of new thermal data points to create the most data rich perspective on US geothermal resources to date. The full results can be seen in the updated Google Earth layer on U.S. Geothermal Resources and in SMU’s paper to be presented at the Geothermal Resources Council Annual Meeting.

The project estimates that Technical Potential for the continental US exceeds 2,980,295 megawatts using Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) and other advanced geothermal technologies such as Low Temperature Hydrothermal.

2011 Geothermal Heat Flow Map of the US

The new estimates are compliant with the new global geothermal mapping protocol developed by SMU, Hot Dry Rocks PTY, GeoWatt Ag, and Google.org which is now recognized by the International Energy Agency and the International Geothermal Association. Under the protocol, Technical Potential is limited to depths of 3.5 to 6.5 km (6.5 to 10 km is considered “Theoretical Potential” under the protocol) and inaccessible zones such as national parks and protected lands are eliminated.

How'd they do it?

The SMU team has been developing entirely new pictures of the earth's geothermal resources. They started by aggregating thousands of new Bottom Hole Temperature (BHT) readings from oil, gas, and water wells in previously under-sampled regions of the U.S. For example, The 2004 Geothermal Map of North America used only 5 heat flow points informing geothermal estimates for West Virginia, compared to the additional 1,455 BHT points in the updated version. In addition, the team has improved estimates of heat flow through the earth's crust with better regional lithologic data.

The updated map is a testament to the incredible SMU team: Dr. David Blackwell, Maria Richards, Zachary Frone, Joseph Batir, Ryan Dingwall, Andrés Ruzo, and Mitchell Williams.

We’re excited that with improvements in EGS technology, all of these resources could one day be harnessed to provide clean, reliable, baseload power -- energy that’s available every hour of every day.

Posted by Parag Chokshi, Clean Energy Team, Google.org

Permalink | Links to this post |  

After the earthquake this afternoon in Van, Turkey, Google Person Finder has launched in Turkish for people looking for their loved ones in the region. Through Google Person Finder, people can enter a new record in the list for a person they're looking for. Anyone who has information for the missing people on the list can update the data. All data entered will become publicly available, viewable and usable by anyone. And you can help search and rescue teams by updating the status of missing people. To use Google Person Finder, visit this site: http://turkey-2011.googlepersonfinder.appspot.com/.

Google Person Finder was developed after the Haiti earthquake in January 2010 to help people who were trying to reach their friends and families, and to reunite them. We hope Person Finder helps people get the latest information on missing persons using one common source. After the Japanese tsunami, 600,000 persons records were entered into Google Person Finder. For more information about how it works, click here.

The Google Crisis Response Team

Permalink | Links to this post |