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.
Read transcripts, see photos and check out our ARCHIVES featuring exclusive interviews with Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman, Vinod Khosla and many more green experts and visionaries…
He’s known as the “sexiest” astrophysicist alive, host of Nova ScienceNow on PBS, and Stephen Colbert’s favorite interviewee. Neil deGrasse Tyson may be more comfortable talking black holes and cosmic quandaries, but on Friday evening in Silicon Valley, Fresh Dialogues asked him to weigh in about climate change and he didn’t disappoint. Beginning – like any good scientist – with the facts (evidence from chemistry, biology and geology); he made this challenge to climate deniers:
“You have to be mature enough to recognize something can be true even if you don’t like the consequences of it. That’s what it means to be a mature adult.”
Tyson shared plans for “an experiment” he will describe during his next appearance on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show (slated for next February). Here’s a preview:
“All climate scientists should announce they’re going to take their entire life savings and invest in industries that will thrive under the conditions of global warming. All those in denial of global warming – which tends to be some of the wealthier people of the nation – won’t do that. As global warming unfolds, that will be the greatest inversion of wealth the world has ever seen. That’s all it takes,” said Tyson, adding with a smile and a shrug, “I could get rich off this.”
He then got serious, “I’m a public scientist and it’s not my goal in life to exploit your ignorance ’cause I’ll get your money, because you won’t believe what I’m telling you. I’d rather you recognize the value of scientific research and we all move into the future together.”
Fresh Dialogues wonders if Tyson has shared his plan with green economy investor Al Gore, who’s been criticized for “putting his money where his mouth is.” Some say Gore is poised to become the world’s first “carbon billionaire.”
One day after Steven Chu defends his department’s handling of the DoE loan guarantee to Solyndra, we look at the impact of Solyndra on the venture capital industry. In this exclusive interview, Andrew Chung, the newest member of the Khosla Ventures investment team, shares his views on the Post Solyndra era. Will the failure of Solyndra have a significant impact on cleantech investment? How does Chung respond to critics who say that cleantech investment is a disaster?
The downside
“Downstream, there are other investors who are a bit more skittish about investing in following rounds…”
The upside
“In the past twelve months, we have three companies that have gone public and generated over $1.1B in profits for the firm. ..It’s possible to make money in cleantech and drive a lot of change and drive significant returns.”
The future
“It’s still relatively early…we are in the second inning of an extra inning game, in the development of this industry.”
“(At Khosla Ventures) we continue to be incredibly excited about the cleantech opportunity…we just raised a $1.1B fund, half of it is going to be in cleantech.”
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Check back soon for more highlights from our interview with Chung:
On America’s comparative advantage vis a vis China
On what we can learn from China’s cleantech policies
Read more, see transcripts, photos and check out other exclusive interviews with Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman, Vinod Khosla and many other experts at Fresh Dialogues Archives and join the conversation at the Fresh Dialogues Facebook Page
Today Bill Weihl, Google’s Green Czar confirmed that he’s leaving the company as of November 8th. What does this mean for the future of Green at Google? And the future of green innovation in Silicon Valley and beyond? Weihl has been the leader of Google’s Clean Energy Team, spearheaded many innovative initiatives; and over $800 Million in green investment since 2006.
Google has taken a unique role in green policy advocacy as well as 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. A new Green Czar has not yet been announced.
So what’s next on this Hero of the Environment’s agenda? Has he been tipped as President Obama’s Green Czar? Certainly Tom Friedman has turned down that job (saying he gets enough aggravation playing golf). Is Weihl heading to Europe where the debate about climate change is (thankfully) over. Or perhaps China has promised him a fortune to lead the ambitious green agenda for its new five year plan?
For now, he’s being tight lipped.
He simply told me, “It’s time to move on and find something new.”
Plus he’s standing by his statement made in September at the GoingGreen Conference that, despite the naysayers, “The Solyndra debacle will not impact smart venture capital investment.” Emphasis on the “smart.”
Stay tuned.
Fresh Dialogues will update you as soon as Mr. Weihl shares plans for his replacement and his next exciting chapter. Bets are on that he will stay in the green arena.
UPDATENovember 8, 2011 1pm PST
Will a new Green Czar be appointed soon? Google’s Parag Chokshi confirmed today in an email response, “Bill (Weihl) played a unique and important role bridging several different internal teams. But we have a strong team in place. Urs Hoelzle will continue to lead our data center efficiency and renewable power purchase efforts, and Rick Needham leads on sustainability and renewable energy investments.”
We assume that means “no.”
Parag Chokshi, Clean Energy Public Affairs Manager, also confirmed that it was Rick Needham and his team who spearheaded the $800M in green investments (another $45 M was made by Google.org).
Chokshi said that Weihl would be having a good send-off today. Just what that means in terms of low carbon celebrations and green-themed surprises is yet to be revealed. Watch this space.
Read transcripts, see photos and check out our ARCHIVES featuring exclusive interviews with Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman, Vinod Khosla and many more green experts and visionaries…
Last night, Jeff Skoll joined an eminent group of change-makers – Bill Gates, Al Gore, Gordon Moore and Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan. He was honored with The Tech Awardstop prize, the James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award. This former eBay president, Skoll Foundationfounder, and billionaire champion of global peace and prosperity, was recognized for his energetic quest to find the answers to climate change, water scarcity and nuclear proliferation.
In an exclusive Fresh Dialogues interview, Skoll talked about the role of the tech community in making the world more sustainable. “Tech companies have a pretty big world view,” he said. “People here tend to have a better grasp of the bigger issues of the world…technologists can get ahead of these issues and create products that help.”
In 2004, he founded Participant Media, the Hollywood production company responsible for such provocative movies as An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for Superman, and Fast Food Nation. Participant Media aims to “create entertainment that inspires”…and in several cases has achieved both box office success and created positive social action around the world.
So, will there be a sequel to An Inconvenient Truth? Skoll admits there is definitely something in the works, and it could even be a TV Show. Check out the Fresh Dialogues video for more details…
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As if all this weren’t enough, Skoll recently founded The Skoll Global Threats Fund, led by former Google.org chief, Larry Brilliant. Top threat on their list of five? Climate Change. Let’s hope they have some brilliant success with their mission.
The Tech Awards gala also recognized 15 laureates from around the world for creating innovative technology solutions to benefit humanity. The winner in the Environment category was Agua Clara a Cornell University program that designs sustainable (gravity powered) water treatment systems to provide clean water to over 25,000 people in communities around the world every day. I talked briefly with young AguaClara coordinator, Daniel Smith who plans to use the $50,000 cash prize to scale up the impressive work his organization is doing in Honduras.
Check back soon for part two of the Jeff Skoll interview to hear what one thing we can all do to make the world greener.
Read transcripts, see photos and check out our ARCHIVES featuring exclusive interviews with Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman, Vinod Khosla and many more green experts and visionaries…
