Clarification appended.

This week, Google Inc. awarded $2.65 million to a nonprofit that encourages energy efficiency in electricity use.

Google donated the money to the Energy Foundation to focus on three areas: changing electricity rates to encourage electricity customers to generate their own power, pinpointing ways to compensate consumers for cutting energy use, and enacting policies that allow consumers to access their own energy data.

"We've been big fans of [the foundation's] work ... so we felt they were a natural partner for an effort like this," said Michael Terrell, Google's senior policy counsel for energy and sustainability. "It's about making the energy system work more intelligently and doing so in a way that will drive more efficiency, help scale renewable energy and save billions of dollars."

The grant is just a small example of Google's energy investments. Last week the tech company poured $200 million into a wind energy project in Texas.

The company also lobbies on energy issues. In the past year, its lobbying records show an interest in clean energy programs and legislation, smart grid and energy efficiency, and renewable energy policies. Google has rapidly risen among the ranks of lobbying companies, going from lobbying expenditures under $1 million in 2006 to $14.4 million in the first three quarters of 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Influencing energy on a global basis

Although Google could have easily funded its own effort to push people to greater energy efficiency, the company wanted to work with the Energy Foundation. "We have enormous faith in that organization, and they have a 20-year track record of amazing work," Terrell said.

The Energy Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, provides grants to other groups, including the Sierra Club. In 2010, it doled out more than $97 million in grants around the world, according to its IRS filings. About $35 million went to programs and grants in Asia for research and information about energy efficiency and pollution there.

Domestically, the group has funded educational programs about renewable energy and climate change, as well as promoted more environmentally friendly vehicle and building standards.

The foundation came under fire in October when the Center for Public Integrity obtained 2011 records showing a $125,000 grant to the American Action Forum, a conservative group with connections to a more conservative nonprofit and super PAC.

Although the grant was given for "high-level outreach and communications around carbon policy," American Action Forum's website criticizes investing in renewable energy.

"Overinvestment in [Obama's] favorite energy technologies has not created jobs or improved energy independence; instead, it has clouded the energy market and made it more difficult for the private sector to grow. Let's trim the deficit, focus spending in the right places, and leave Pentagon deliberations to the Pentagon," the website says.

Clarification: An earlier version of this story was unclear about the nature of the grants awarded by the Energy Foundation, and all grant recipients are disclosed on the foundation's website.