Google = GGG = Green Great Giant !

Like many Google initiatives, the Internet giant’s recent announcement that it plans to pump millions into renewable energy technology has drawn widespread curiosity and publicity. It’s a high-minded effort for a self-proclaimed high-minded company.

Google, after all, says its mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” High-minded, yes.

In October 2005, after having made billions through Internet advertising, the company established the Google Foundation and funded it with $90 million. Most of that was in stock, and today the foundation has much more in its do-gooder war chest.

With all that money, rising oil prices, and concern over climate change, it makes sense that Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, decided to funnel some of it into alternative energy. I believe their sincerity and support their cause.

They said the goal is to build 1 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal. The foundation said it will initially focus on solar thermal, wind, and geothermal power systems.

But that is where the initiative’s clarity ends. It’s hard to judge from the details revealed what roles will be played by the foundation and by the profit-seeking Google Inc.

Both Mr. Page and Mr. Brin repeatedly stressed during their conference call the importance of capitalism in the green movement. If the effort sinks millions into a hot startup that goes public, where will those profits go?

It seems Google Inc. will get the best of both worlds. If these investments yield great technology, the company will be in pole position to benefit. And if the financial risks fail, Mr. Page and Mr. Brin can tell shareholders that it was money already lost to the foundation. Either way, Google gets pats on the back. It will be the effort that counted, most will say.

But let’s not overlook that effort, because I don’t think it will be as easy as Google’s founders think it will.

In a statement, Mr. Page said, “We have gained expertise in designing and building large-scale, energy-intensive facilities by building efficient data centers. We want to apply the same creativity and innovation to the challenge of generating renewable electricity.”

Not only does this language further confuse the roles of Google the foundation and Google the profit-seeking company—the expertise is in the company, not the foundation—it also doesn’t make any sense. I don’t believe their experience will translate well into the industries of solar thermal, wind, or geothermal power.

Alternative energy is no cake walk, as any clean tech venture capitalist or entrepreneur will quickly vouch. There is nuance and complication around varied legislative landscapes—as much as from California to Nevada as from France to Germany. Markets are hard to understand and the technology is often obscure and uncertain.

Clean tech investments by U.S. venture capital firms will likely exceed $3 billion this year. Worldwide, some analysts think total investments in alternative energy—venture capital, private equity and more—now reach the tens of billions of dollars per year.

Google might rule in Internet search and advertising, but, in the alternative energy sector, it’s just a rich guy with little to show. As more and more money flows into clean tech, even that might not be all that special.