By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

On the Eve of Earth Day, it’s telling to look at the green motivations of one of Silicon Valley’s leaders in solar technology: CEO of Akeena Solar, Barry Cinnamon. He’s been a solar advocate since the 1970′s when he studied the science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); however, he’s emphatic in his belief: economics trumps environmental arguments for going solar. So much so, that Cinnamon chose to avoid the color green in his company logo and vehicles.

What motivated Cinnamon to explore solar energy in the 1970′s?

“In the 1970′s we had the energy crisis and …(President) Jimmy Carter said ‘the energy crisis is the moral equivalent of war.’  …there was no environmental consciousness about fossil fuels being bad; nobody had ever heard of Green House Gases…We were all worried about nuclear winter.”

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On becoming a green entrepreneur

“It was a really FEEL GOOD THING….We knew we were doing the right thing for the environment…”

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On the economics of going solar

“Customers want to do it for the environment or for our country’s energy independence….but if the numbers don’t pencil out, they almost never do it…you’ve got to make a decent economic case.”

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How does “belief” in Global Warming alter the sales pitch?

“Some people don’t ‘believe’ it, and it’s a religious thing…’green’ works well in the Bay Area….but (elsewhere) customers would avoid a company who’s main pitch is green…but if you hit them with the economic argument or the energy independence argument – we don’t need to buy any energy from the Persian Gulf – it works just fine.”

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Could there be a repeat of the 1970′s boom then bust in alternative energy?

“In the 70′s/early 80′s, the crisis went away, tax credits went away…if energy prices suddenly plummeted again….it’ll happen again. We don’t have the political will to artificially support oil or gas prices….(but) because the world  demand for oil and gas is so high and the supply is generally limited…economics is going to reduce the chances that it will happen again…but it’s not impossible.”

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

Fresh Dialogues (TM) is an interview series with a green focus: Fresh Questions, Fresh Answers. This video interview took place at  Foothill College Celebrity Forum on April 1, 2010, just one week before Justice Stevens announced his retirement. Check out the new Fresh Dialogues YouTube Channel more exclusive interviews.

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ALISON VAN DIGGELEN: Hello and welcome. Today on Fresh Dialogues: Jeffrey Toobin.

Jeffrey – thank you so much for joining me on Fresh Dialogues. Let’s go on to your specialty: The Supreme Court. In 2009, they decided against environmentalists in a lot of cases…

JEFFREY TOOBIN: Six out of six.

ALISON VAN DIGGELEN: Yes. What are your thoughts on that, moving forward? Is this going to continue…this anti-environmental stance of the Supreme Court?

JEFFREY TOOBIN: I think that the court as currently constituted will likely continue in that direction. I don’t think it’s a particular hostility to the environment per se. I think it is a general sympathy for corporate defendants in all cases, environmental cases being one category of cases where the corporations are the defendants.  They are also generally – the conservative majority –  fairly hostile to government regulatory efforts…and the environment is one area, not the only area. So if the court stays as it currently is, I think you’ll see a lot more cases like that.

ALISON VAN DIGGELEN: So would you say, it’s moving more pro-business?

JEFFREY TOOBIN: Clearly

ALISON VAN DIGGELEN: And the environment losing out as a result?

JEFFREY TOOBIN: That’s certainly how the environmentalists see it.

ALISON VAN DIGGELEN: And how do you see it?

JEFFREY TOOBIN: Again, not a field of great expertise of mine, but I see who wins the cases and who loses them. And it’s the polluters who keep winning.

ALISON VAN DIGGELEN: And what about the future? Justice Stevens is due to retire shortly…

JEFFREY TOOBIN: He hasn’t said so officially but I think he will retire this Spring.

ALISON VAN DIGGELEN: So how is that going to change things? What are your predictions?

JEFFREY TOOBIN: I think he is a key member of the liberal four on the court, he will likely be replaced by another liberal. So in terms of the outcome of  cases in the next few years, probably not a huge impact, but I often like to quote Byron White the late Justice, who said if you change one Justice, you don’t just change one Justice, you change the whole court. If you start to have an energized liberal group of young  - by Supreme Court standards -Justices like Sonia Sotomayor, like the next Obama appointee, the wind could start to be at their back. And if Obama gets re-elected, you could see more appointments…so it’s a big deal.

ALISON VAN DIGGELEN: And who is your No. 1 candidate for that appointment?

JEFFREY TOOBIN: Elena Kagan, the Solicitor General, former Dean of Harvard Law School. Very much an Obama type person – moderate Democrat, a consensus builder…

ALISON VAN DIGGELEN: Do you know if she’s an environmentalist?

JEFFREY TOOBIN: I don’t… I just don’t know. My sense is, it’s just not an issue that has come across her plate a lot…she is someone who has written on administration law, which tends to mean she’s a believer in the power of the Federal Government to regulate. But I wouldn’t…

A – I don’t know what she thinks…and B – I don’t…

A is enough. I don’t know what she thinks about these issues…(laughter)

ALISON VAN DIGGELEN:  (laughter) OK. Jeffrey Toobin I really appreciate your taking the time for Fresh Dialogues.

JEFFREY TOOBIN: My pleasure. Nice to see you.

For more Fresh Dialogues Video interviews click here

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

I sat down with Supreme Court expert, Jeffrey Toobin, to discuss the court’s environmental record and Obama’s likely pick for the Supreme Court to replace Justice Stevens. Without skipping a beat, Toobin said his No. 1 pick is Solicitor General, Elena Kagan.

Just one week later, Justice Stevens announced his retirement and Toobin’s pick became the front runner. Time will tell if he’s right. Obama is expected to  announce his nominee very soon.

Click here for an interview TRANSCRIPT

Why will Obama pick Elena Kagan?

“She’s former Dean of Harvard Law School (Obama’s alma mater), very much an Obama type person – moderate Democrat, a consensus builder…”

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Is Elena Kagan an environmentalist?

“My sense is that it’s not an issue that has come across her plate a lot…she’s someone who has written on administration law which tends to mean she’s a believer in the power of the Federal Government to regulate.” Jeffrey Toobin

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The interview took place at Dick Henning’s Foothill College Celebrity Forum in Silicon Valley on April 1, 2010. For more Fresh Dialogues interviews with business leaders and experts check out Fresh Dialogues YouTube Channel

And here is an ARCHIVE of interviews with Paul Krugman, Tom Friedman, KR Sridhar and many others

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

Last week, President Obama announced a surprise decision to allow oil and gas drilling off the East Coast of the United States. The world was at once outraged and confused. What many analysts overlooked is that Obama also said in his speech, “For the sake of the planet and our energy independence, we need to begin the transition to cleaner fuels now.”  There was much for both sides to analyze and to debate.

I sat down with CNN’s senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin before his Foothill College Celebrity Forum appearance, to try to make sense of Obama’s announcement. Toobin is best-selling author of The Nine (On the secret world of the Supreme Court Justices), and two of the most high profile political controversies: Too Close to Call (the Bush-Gore Presidential Recount) and A Vast Conspiracy (the Clinton-Lewinsky Affair), so I figured he’d provide some good insights into Obama’s latest political strategy. See also Huffington Post coverage

On the Obama Offshore Oil Drilling Announcement

“It’s a bit peculiar frankly…it seems on one level that he’s negotiating with himself…conceding something to the pro-development forces before the negotiations have really begun in earnest…but there may be some larger political game at work…that this shows how accommodating he is… ”

On the Republican Reaction

“Gestures of good faith to Republicans have generally been met over the last year and a half with non responsive actions.”
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On the EPA Regulating Greenhouse Gases as Pollutants

“That’s a campaign promise that Obama appears to be keeping…they have already started the process.”

On Health Care Reform

“It’s a historic moment for Obama, for the country…It’s going to give the Democrats a tremendous shot in the arm for the mid-term elections… This is going to change the country…it’s done.”

Check back soon for Part II of the Toobin Interview when we discuss the environmental record of the Supreme Court and Toobin’s pick for Justice Stevens’s successor.

For more exclusive interviews check out Fresh Dialogues GREEN INTERVIEW SERIES ARCHIVES or Fresh Dialogues YOUTUBE CHANNEL

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

There are countless Silicon Valley wannabes all over the world, from Silicon Wadi in Israel to Silicon Glen in Scotland, but none rival Silicon Valley’s track record. Why is Silicon Valley the premier center of innovation? What is the secret of Silicon Valley’s success?

I joined Morton Grosser, a Silicon Valley venture investor, consultant and inventor in his Menlo Park workshop to discuss the history of Silicon Valley and the key ingredients that allow innovation to flourish here. As a former director of eight high-tech companies and strategy advisor to such stalwarts as Hewlett-Packard, Apple, Kleiner Perkins and many Fortune 100 companies, Grosser (or Mort, as he prefers) provides a unique perspective on what makes Silicon Valley successful.

Why did Silicon Valley grow here?

“Silicon Valley has an extraordinary meritocracy culture…it’s an accident of time and place.”

What is the Vital Ingredient?

“We’ve had a unique surplus of the four things that are necessary for an entrepreneurial culture…a great university or universities, smart young entrepreneurs, a source of capital, but most leave out the most important part:

What you really need is a culture of meritocracy. You need horizontality.”

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“He noticed that science and engineering seminars were taught by 23-year-old graduate students, because those are the people making the progress…this was anomalous for the industrial world… Terman noticed this 70 years ago and he wrote about it in “Steeples of Excellence.” He said, if you could move this principle out of academia into industry you would have an enormous advantage  over many other companies.”

How to build innovation – the Silicon Valley Way

“It’s not just the capital…it’s the intellectual environment, the ambiance, the acceptance, it isn’t merely mentoring it’s accepting…To build a culture that is unique; in which industrial companies would have the same structure, where young people have a voice, where new and creative ideas … flourish.”

On Creativity

“You don’t have to teach children creativity, you just have to get out of their way.”

Want to learn more?

The book “Regional Advantage” by Berkeley’s Dean of the School of Information, AnnaLee Saxenian, compares Route 128 (the Boston innovation hub) with Route 280 (Silicon Valley) and explores the reasons, as Mort puts it, “Why Silicon Valley succeeded and Route 128 did not… It comes down to the difference between horizontality and verticality.” In summary: Boston developed a system dominated by independent, self-sufficient corporations, whereas Silicon Valley developed a decentralized but cooperative industrial system.

Check out the video: The SECRET History of Silicon Valley by Steve Blank

To explore more exclusive Fresh Dialogues interviews, here are the ARCHIVES

Check back soon for more highlights from the Morton Grosser interview

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

Ask Akeena Solar CEO Barry Cinnamon about the current brouhaha on repealing AB 32 and he’s likely to “get political.”  Since the 1970′s, he’s been a strong advocate for solar power and is an active member of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. I met with Barry at the Los Gatos headquarters of the solar designer-installer and he had strong words for the Governor and the two gubernatorial candidates, Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner:

1. Is Governor Schwarzenegger doing enough to stimulate the green economy?

“Nobody’s done enough.”

2. Advice to Governor Schwarzenegger on Gubernatorial candidates, Meg Whitman’s and Steve Poizner’s stance on AB 32 … that it’s killing jobs and should be repealed.

“Governor Schwarzenegger should pick up the phone to Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner and tell them to back off their inane commentary on AB 32. That it’s killing jobs….that’s just prima facie false.”

“Message to Governor Schwarzenegger: fantastic job that he’s done on behalf of solar …but as a leader of the Republican Party,  I’d encourage him to work out a little bit on the Republican candidates… explain to them that our state and Silicon Valley has become a leader in clean tech because of the State’s strong support for (alternative) energy. It would be disastrous if it was suspended in any way.”

3. Will the Whitman/ Poizner stance on AB 32 backfire?

“That policy (proposal) is going to galvanize every person and every company involved in clean tech to vote for (Gubernatorial candidate) Jerry Brown.”

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To see more exclusive Fresh Dialogues interviews on solar power click here and for a full interview archive click here

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

I sat down with Pulitzer Prize winner, Tom Friedman, just before he delivered a lecture to an expectant Foothill College Celebrity Forum audience at the Flint Center in Silicon Valley.  We discussed his bestselling book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded and why he thinks the U.S. government MUST jump-start the green economy. According to Tom, creating the right ecosystem is key: funding research, setting price signals and creating incentives to encourage green innovation. Tom admitted to some China envy in that regard. (see below or check out the transcript) He also has some thoughtful words on the Van Jones resignation and dealing with loud critics. Are you listening Van Jones?

In this video excerpt, Tom explains his China envy and why he said “Am I a bad guy for wanting to be China for a day?”

I asked him, in light of Van Jones’s resignation (and the climate of such criticism), does he consider himself a bad guy?

Tom has some strong words for his critics….people like Glenn Beck et al:  ”If you’re criticizing me, God Bless you…I’m not above criticism. My focus is on my ideas with my audience…You may be writing about me, but don’t think for a second I’m going to waste a column on you!”

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For more interviews with Paul Krugman, Martin Sheen, Charlie Rose, Vinod Khosla et al, click here

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

In Part Two of my Bloom Energy interview with CEO KR Sridhar, we discuss the affordability of the Bloom Box and what barriers to entry make the fuel cell sector difficult to penetrate. As CNET’s Brooke Crothers emphasized in his recent article there are many fuel cell manufacturers with expensive products; Bloom has to prove itself special by making its fuel cells SIGNIFICANTLY more affordable. It’s a long road from $800,000 (Google and eBay’s beta Bloom Boxes’ price tag) to $3,000 -which KR says is the backyard-box goal).

The BBC’s correspondent, Maggie Shiel underlines affordability in her post on Bloom’s reach for energy Nirvana; and Grist’s Todd Woody expounds further on the challenges Bloom faces and Walmart’s role in driving down costs. New York Times columnist Tom Friedman has a unique take on the Bloom story in a recent column called “Dreaming the Impossible Dream.”

This from Bloom CEO, KR Sridhar:

“Our goal is clearly to make it affordable. It needs mass market adoption, … If it’s not affordable, it’ll be the niche market…it’ll be a Tesla.  We need it to be a Honda Civic.”

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More videos Part One SEE THE VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH KR SRIDHAR HERE : Fuel Cell Technology and Efficiency

Also Part Two Bloom Energy: Affordability is Essential Video

Part Three Bloom Energy: Mission to Change the World Video

KR Sridhar on barriers to entry:

Technical

“It’s a very complex interdisciplinary field…it requires knowledge in a significant number of engineering, science, and material science disciplines. And the development of all the process know-how is fairly complex.”

Financial

“There’s a significant amount of capital that need to be invested over a long period of time to get it to where it needs to be.” (Reportedly over $400 Million has been invested in Bloom Energy since 2002, from several venture capital firms, led by Kleiner Perkins’ John Doerr.)

To see Part I of the Bloom Energy interview where KR discusses the company’s technology and efficiency click here

To check out more VIDEO interview segments at the Fresh Dialogues Channel click here

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

Like most ambitious entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley Bloom Energy CEO KR Sridhar wants to change the world. Now where have we heard that line before? It’s the ubiquitous rally cry for thousands of Google/ Facebook/eBay wannabes around the world.  But what makes KR Sridhar different?

How about $400 Million in venture capital from the likes of Kleiner Perkins’ John Doerr; a 100-strong team of PhD. rocket scientists (like himself) and top engineers from multiple disciplines who’ve been working secretly for eight years; and a client list that includes Google, eBay, Staples and FedEx. Add to that, enthusiastic backing from Arnold Schwarzenegger, splashy coverage from CBS’s 60 Minutes, and Time Magazine which last December dubbed him one of eight “Tech pioneers who will change your life.”

Yet, it does sound too good to be true. Not surprisingly, the naysayers are aplenty.  A skeptical article in the Economist said there were many reasons for questioning the company’s “hype”, including the difficulty of shrinking the fuel cell components, and competition from the likes of GE. In a typically British fashion, it mocked Bloom Energy’s ambitions, referring to “flower power” and “fuel’s gold” in the article.

But if we look back a few years; before KR Sridhar emerged from stealth to become the Steve Jobs of Green Energy – more substantive information emerges. He was quoted in Tom Friedman’s New York Times column as saying,“We are thrivers. Thrivers are constantly looking for new opportunities to seize and lead and be number one. That is what America is about.” In an exclusive interview at the Bloom Energy headquarters, I asked him to explain this comment, his motivations and why he believes his company really can change the world. Distributed power that is reliable, and affordable are key parts of his strategy.

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To see Part I of the Bloom Energy interview where KR discusses the company’s technology and efficiency click here

Excerpt from the Interview Transcript

“This is a mission about changing the world because energy is a passport to a better living. For the rest of the world that does not have access to power, access to electricity, to give them that is empowering them to a better life. So if the solution works and you make it affordable and you can distribute it all over the world then definitely you have changed the world. So … if that’s your goal and you achieve that goal, clearly given the size of the energy market, it’s in trillions not in billions and given how many people you can impact with this kind of stuff, this has to be a prominent company. So, I would say being the number one corporation is an offshoot of achieving your larger mission.”

KR Sridhar, CEO Bloom Energy

To check out more exclusive Fresh Dialogues interviews with Tom Friedman, Vinod Khosla, Paul Krugman, and many other leaders click here