Tech leaders call for 'green' policies

March 14, 2007
From Computerworld

group of technology executives said Wednesday that the world is facing an energy crisis, and they called on U.S. policymakers to embrace a "green tech" agenda focused on encouraging energy conservation and reducing U.S. dependence on foreign energy sources.

Members of TechNet, a network of technology-company CEOs, asked the U.S. government to double its funding for basic energy research, designate a federal agency that would oversee energy research and technologies, and increase tax incentives for new energy technologies. Six high-tech executives were in Washington to push the green tech policy agenda, saying a government partnership is needed to make the U.S. the world leader in new green technologies.

But the group said it also sees profit in new energy technologies. "It's a crisis that's going to bring about huge opportunities," said K.R. Sridhar, CEO of Bloom Energy, a fuel-cell start-up. "New opportunities will make energy abundant, sustainable and available for all mankind."

While some executives compared the predicted energy crisis to the U.S. sending astronauts to the moon, John Doerr, a partner in the venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, said that comparison understates the problem. "We need much more than ... an Apollo Project," he said. "This is no single silver bullet. This is an entire re-industrialization of the planet."
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