“Venture capital firms poured nearly $900 million – a record – into U.S. startups developing clean and green energy systems in the three months that ended Sept. 30, according to a report out today.
The total flow of dollars to all U.S. startups – $8.07 billion – rose 8 percent compared with the same three months last year, and the energy category soared 28 percent, according to data furnished by the San Francisco office of Dow Jones Venture One.
“It’s exciting to see so much energy, pardon the pun, into that space,” said Carl Guardino, president of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, which counts more than 100 firms in the region working in some facet of alternative power generation or waste reduction.”
Of course as Robert Reich reminds us, this is not to be counted as altruism.
Al Gore’s campaign against global warming, for which he just received the Nobel Peace Prize, has encouraged many corporations to “go green” and become environmentally friendly. But do these companies deserve to be praised? And can we rely on corporations to lead the way on global warming? The answer is: No and no.
At the risk of being an anti curmudgeon I would point out that while praise for sacrifice and altruism is not due. There is no need to get all tingly because the rich and powerful have joined our movement. However, praise for being smart, and saving money is fine, and let’s give it. Frankly, I don’t care if “TXU, a big Texas power company, …cut the number of coal-fired plants it was going to build because Goldman anticipates stricter regulations of coal-fired plants,” and not because the CEO was worried about butterfly habitats. I still say, smart move!