Not being a techie or a VC, Mr. Khosla's names was unknown to me until a few weeks ago.
Now I see him in energyBIZ and Fast Company.
Background, founder of Sun Microsystems, big into the VC world and several years ago shifted his investing to green investments to address climate change. He sees climate change as a "technological opportunity" and suggests that "We need planet insurance, because the probability of a disaster is much higher."
He has invested in solar, carbon-negative concrete, bio-fuels and wind power storage - to name a few.
Check out his companies web site, the papers and presentations are particularly interesting: http://www.khoslaventures.com/.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
More on LED's
The LED wars between DOE and EPA have heated up. Several major efficiency players including PG&E, Efficiency Vermont and the Next Generation Lighting Industry Alliance have all weighed in, saying that EPA is out of line here. The wheels of government grind slowly, but the market is quickly rejecting EPA's move.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Efficient Water Heaters are Coming!
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/6f22a4cb3f14e17362607d9e102febb5.htm
Collaboration between government agencies and private business to design, manufacture and market efficient water heaters is one of the next major break-throughs in energy efficiency. Right now the water heater is the last major appliance in the American home where there is not an efficient option. The work cited above - combined with the an upcoming ENERGY STAR specification - will help transform this market.
From a climate change point of view, having a global company like GE involved helps assure that this technology will move off-shore also. While I want to see the American market for these products transformed, it is more important that the suburbs and subdivisions that will begin to populate China, Brazil and India have and use efficient products as a first-option.
Collaboration between government agencies and private business to design, manufacture and market efficient water heaters is one of the next major break-throughs in energy efficiency. Right now the water heater is the last major appliance in the American home where there is not an efficient option. The work cited above - combined with the an upcoming ENERGY STAR specification - will help transform this market.
From a climate change point of view, having a global company like GE involved helps assure that this technology will move off-shore also. While I want to see the American market for these products transformed, it is more important that the suburbs and subdivisions that will begin to populate China, Brazil and India have and use efficient products as a first-option.
Friday, June 6, 2008
US EPA Hurting LED's, Energy Efficiency
On Tuesday the US EPA released a specification for ENERGY STAR qualified LED's. This specification undercuts years of work by the US Department of Energy and allows basically ANY LED product to be ENERGY STAR qualified.
LEDs Magazine has a good round-up here: http://www.ledsmagazine.com/news/5/6/8
If the EPA is successful with this specification, it severely undercuts the overall value and utility of the ENERGY STAR label and will certainly hamper consumer acceptance of LED's by specifying poor quality products.
LEDs Magazine has a good round-up here: http://www.ledsmagazine.com/news/5/6/8
If the EPA is successful with this specification, it severely undercuts the overall value and utility of the ENERGY STAR label and will certainly hamper consumer acceptance of LED's by specifying poor quality products.
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