Bloom EnergyCEO KR Sridharis a man with a mission to change the world. A former NASA advisor who developed technologies to sustain life on Mars, this earnest scientist is now harnessing his visionary skills and a large team of engineers to solve the energy crisis. His ambitious goal? To revolutionize the energy industry, just like cell phones revolutionized the communications industry. His team is developing high efficiency fuel cells to provide a globaldistributed system of electricity supply at low cost.
Although the company is still in stealth modeindustry speculationis rife about its future plans. KR agreed to discuss Bloom Energy’s progress in this exclusive Fresh Dialogues interview recorded on September 30, 2009. To read the interview transcript click here
Lena Wilsonhas been described as one of the most powerful women in Scotland. She’s CEO of both Scottish Enterpriseand Scottish Development International, two publicly funded organizations focused on stimulating sustainable growth in Scotland. The country has an ambitious target to provide 50% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.
I caught up with Lena on a recent trip to Scotland and discussed her role as “Scotland’s chief salesperson.” She explained the political will for its energy targets and described the green strategy: focus on a low carbon future and leverage Scotland’s natural advantages: 25% of Europe’s wind and wave power potential, cool climate; infrastructure and research strengths.
On Scotland’s value proposition
“Scotland has moved significantly up the value chain. It isn’t about cheap assembly plants anymore…Scotland has natural assets, talent, a business infrastructure and science base that can make it the most competitive business location for R & D.”
I caught up with Vinod Khoslaat SD Forum’sVisionary Awards. In this exclusive interview, Vinod, a pioneer in clean tech investment, describes how in 2000, he started “looking for something new, something difficult and something large to invest in.” He found his first clean tech investment in Bloom Energy and has since gone on to invest and nurture dozens of clean tech businesses including Ausra, AltaRock and Stion
KR Sridharof Bloom Energyintroduced Vinod by saying: “We all need to root for his success, because his success is this planet’s success.”
And Vinod’s recipe for success? The freedom to fail. “The Silicon Valley ecosystem allows me to fail…you get more shots at goal.” Vinod Khosla
Matthew Smithof Greenbox, a maker of web-based energy management systems for homes, sat down with me at the company’s San Bruno based headquarters to discuss how his team plans to change our energy consumption habits, save us money and save the planet. By providing an “energy dashboard” for homes, he claims the company offers consumers the potential to reduce electricity bills by 10-15% by taking small, easy steps. (more…)
In the fourth in our series, Fresh Green Minute, we feature Charlie Rose– the acclaimed interviewer and host of the nightly PBS program, Charlie Rose.
We discussed Tom Friedman’s book, Hot Flat and Crowdedand why Charlie thinks that the United States can reassert its leadership in the world by engaging the energy question.
