Bill Weihl, former Green Czar at Google will start work greening Facebook in late January next year. As Fresh Dialogues predicted on his departure from Google last November, Weihl will stay in the green arena and plans to “advance sustainability” at Facebook. No details yet on his job title or the extent of his responsibilities, but he confirmed, “the focus will be on sustainability, clean energy, energy efficiency, etc.” We anticipate Weihl will use his extensive experience and passion for green to drive Facebook’s sustainable practices, leveraging its game-changing apps and Facebook’s vast membership of over 800 million active users.
Under his leadership at Google from 2006 to 2011, the company took a unique role in green policy advocacy as well as over $700 M in cutting edge clean energy investment. In July, Fresh Dialogues covered Google’s Green Dream, an audacious report outlining how the right green investment and policy could positively impact the economy and the planet. Without Weihl at the helm, Green at Google may lose some impetus, although Google’s Parag Chokshi assured us green investment and programs will continue. A new Green Czar has not yet been announced.
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Innovation and Silicon Valley go together like bits and bites. Another month another innovation competition. But Intel’s Global Challenge caught our attention for the breadth and quality of its innovators from around the world, who competed for $100,000 in prize money and the chance to pitch some of the valley’s top venture capitalists at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
Fresh Dialogues was delighted to see a good number of environmentally conscious innovators made the cut, including PolySol, a recyclable alternative to plastic, made from coconut husks; Nitrate Production System, a low-cost earth-friendly fertilizer and ValleyFeed, a wireless wildfire detection system. These innovative teams came from India, Jordan and Saudi Arabia/Lebanon respectively. Closer to home, NextDrop, a Berkeley based team demonstrated a ground breaking system that uses crowd-sourcing technology to monitor and facilitate efficient water use in India. The venture capital judges agreed and gave NextDrop the Social Innovation Award.
The award winning team includes National Science Foundation Fellow, Emily Kumpel (pictured) who is a PhD candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley. She brings her water management experience in Madagascar and Tanzania to NextDrop’s diverse team who include Ashish Jhina, Thejovardhana Kote, Anu Sridharan, Madhusadhan B, and Ari Almos.
We look forward to following their progress blog as they scale up NextDrop’s project in India.
Google is on a green spending spree. By July 2011 it had invested over $700 M in clean energy. Today the figure is over $850 M and set to grow (approaching $1 B as at August 2012). Fresh Dialogues asked Google: How does it choose green startups and projects?
He’s talking about large solar power tower projects, like BrightSource’s Ivanpah project in California’s Mojave Desert to which Google contributed $168 M; and one of the world’s largest wind farms, Alta Wind Energy Center, also in the Mojave Desert where Google invested $55 M.
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In June this year, Google demonstrated its game-changing strategy by investing in SolarCity. This time it was a $280 M investment, to create a fund enabling the solar company to make residential rooftop installations more affordable (often eliminating the upfront cost for homeowners).
“Google is setting an example that other leading American companies can follow,” said Lyndon Rive, CEO of SolarCity. “The largest 200 corporations in the U.S. have more than $1 trillion in cash on their balance sheets. Investments in solar energy generate returns for corporate investors, offer cost savings for homeowners, create new local jobs…and protect the environment.”
Despite the departure of Google’s Green Czar – Bill Weihl – this week, Parag Chokshi confirms that “we have a strong team and our work will continue. ..we actually have several executives that work on our green initiatives … other executives include Rick Needham, who has led and oversees our $850M in clean energy investments; and Urs Hoelzle, who oversees our entire infrastructure and has spearheaded our energy efficiency work.”
This video was recorded at the Google Headquarters in Mountain View CA on July 8, 2011.
“Believe in yourself.” That’s the core advice from Weili Dai, cofounder of Marvell, whom some are dubbing the new Tech Wonder Woman, given the recent ouster of Carol Bartz from Yahoo. Dai’s advice for women in business is resonating, given the focus on women’s crucial role in reviving the economy at the historic APEC Women and the Economy Summit in San Francisco last week, chaired by Hillary Clinton. The summit concluded that that increasing women’s participation in the economy could lead to a 14 percent rise in per capita income by 2020.
Weili Dai spoke at APEC and has strong views about women’s role in the business world. She argues that the best way to grow the world economy is to fully engage women as business leaders. She points out that fewer than 29% of global decision making positions are held by women. Encouraging more women to focus on science and technology is key she says. At the Game Changers Conference in Silicon Valley, despite calls from other delegates for trade intervention against China, she voiced her preference for collaboration not confrontation. “We are powerful, China is powerful. Today, we live in the global world….let’s collaborate…cooperation is the healthy thing to do.”
In this Fresh Dialogues interview, she shares some tips about how to succeed in the tech world. A native of Shanghai, Dai attended UC Berkeley and cofounded Marvell in 1995. Since then, she’s helped to grow the company into one of the world’s largest chipmakers. Marvell touts a few admirable green policies but could do better as a green leader, coming 434th in Newsweek’s green ranking of America’s largest 500 companies.
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Here are video highlights from the SVLG Game Changers 2012 Conference which took place in Silicon Valley, September 13, 2011.
Gavin Newsom, CA Lieutenant Governor was on fire as he talked about California’s struggling economy and political disfunction: “We’ve been flat lining for 30 years…we have to wake up!”
California State Senator, Joe Simitian echoed his frustration with polarized politics and called for a popular public uprising. Striking a more optimistic viewpoint, the charismatic Shai Agassi, CEO of Better Place, the EV infrastructure, battery replacement company shared his vision for making the San Francisco Bay Area a model for the future of electric vehicles to “show Detroit…DC the way to go.”
Weili Dai, the intriguing cofounder of Marvell, the fabless semiconductor company, reiterated the need for cooperation with China, despite several calls for taking a more aggressive stance to protect and nurture America’s deteriorating manufacturing base.
This interview was recorded in Silicon Valley on Sept 13, 2011. With thanks to the SVLG and SV Community Foundation for front row seats. See video at the Fresh Dialogues Channel here
Here is an exclusive Fresh Dialogues interview with Marvell’s VP, Weili Dai – she gives tips to women in business. Number one: believe in yourself
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How is Google greening its growing army of Googlers, on and off campus? Biodiesel buses, Google bikes…pogo sticks anyone?
I sat down with Parag Chokshi, Google’s Clean Energy Public Affairs Manager this summer and he explained some of Google’s employee incentives and green practices. Did you know that if you get to the Googleplex under your own steam – walking, running, biking…or on your pogo stick, Google will donate to a charity of your choice? And if you can’t bear to move from your cool pad in San Fran, and the thought of 36 miles on a pogo stick seems a stretch, Google will transport you to work in one of its special biodiesel buses. Wifi equipped of course.
There’s even a sizeable organic vegetable garden on the campus, so if you fancy getting dirt under your finger nails and communing with Mother Earth, Google’s your place.
Of course, Google also fanfares the usual green suspects:
solar power (one of the largest commercial installations in the Bay Area at 1.6 MW or 30% of the complex’s peak power use);
Bloom Energy Boxes (Google was one of the first customers for this efficient fuel cell power source);
But if you think working at Google is just one green Kumbaya center, remember it’s not just a holiday camp…Pay maybe the highest average in the tech industry (2011 Payscale Report) but according to anecdotal evidence and Google’s own job descriptions, expect a high-stress startup environment and the bureaucratic issues typical of any fast growing big company.
