Google came out with a new feature today – at least, new to me: Their Google Green section. There was a link to a subsection of the Google Green area on the Google home page today.

The subsection? An amazing, whimsical, virtuoso HTML5 “walk through” of how an email goes from one computer to another one, with all the pass-throughs at Google: The Story of Send.

Now, make no mistake about it: This is a commercial for Google – it touts its energy-efficient data centers, its carbon-neutral footprint, how it safeguards users’ personal info and so on. Nothing really about how an email gets from point A to point B.

But so what?

It’s fun, it’s informative, and it’s pretty unique. Embedded videos and slideshows and what-not. What’s not to like? And it’s effective – you come out of the interactive presentation admiring Google for all they’ve done (just the levels of security at various data centers, for example) and just being impressed with how much they are thinking ahead (investing in alternative energies, including a pig-manure plant that’s a win for Google and the farmer).

And this presentation had nothing to do with Google’s core business of search/ad words.

Note: View on a desktop for full effect, but the mobile presentation (Safari/iPhone) is pretty solid, as well.