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DiggI had the pleasure of introducing Vinod Khosla yesterday afternoon at a Menlo Park cleantech symposium cosponsored by Goodwin Procter LLP and The Deal.
The legendary venture capitalist walked an audience of venture capitalists, lawyers and entrepreneurs through his Khosla Ventures' portfolio companies. The roughly 32 investments are organized into four sectors: the war on oil, the war on coal, efficiency and materials.
His anecdotes about several of the startups he has funded underscored Khosla's stated mission to help solve the world's energy problems. Returns are naturally important to him, but you don't get the impression that money is his primary concern. He certainly has skin in the game, with Khosla Ventures fully funded out of his wallet.
I was most interested by an audience question that summed up a concern that has been on my mind for some time: Lots of smart people are developing technologies that can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and other depletable resources, but is there time? Will these technologies make a difference soon enough to help us swerve off our unsustainable path of consumption?
The pace of climate change is uncertain. But one thing is clear, Khosla said--technology isn't a stumbling block to developing new sources of energy. "I believe that in five to 10 years, the technology question will be out of the way," he said. "The issue is can we change policy fast enough?"
As he suggests, that's a dauntingly big "if." The VC is doing his part on that score, actively championing policies like last year's Proposition 87, a California clean energy initiative that got substantial funding from Khosla. Voters rejected it last November.
It's also worth noting that with cleantech, high-tech isn't necessarily a requirement. Khosla Ventures portfolio company Living Homes, for example, employs a team of leading architects to make prefabricated houses out of green materials.
"Living Homes didn't take tech expertise," he said. "It took $1 million and some fine footwork."
It's clear Khosla is an optimist who puts a lot of faith in entrepreneurs. Less than half of his portfolio companies had business plans when he funded them. "In most cases, the person cares about something more than making money," he said. "And if you care about a problem, you won't give up." - Olaf de Senerpont Domis
Go to PowerPoint on Khosla Ventures' renewables portfolio
See Oct. 18 post from Earth2tech
See Sept. 11 post from Tech Confidential
See Sept. 20 story from TheDeal.com
Will these technologies make a difference soon enough to help us swerve off our unsustainable path of consumption?
Sounds like a question posed by someone who has never taken an economics course. We currently have alternative energy technologies that work and can replace fossil fuels entirely. Why don't we? Cost (and politics if you consider nuclear energy). As long as socialists don't completely take over the world and end the free market system, some day the decreasing cost of alternative energy will intersect with the increasing cost of fossil fuels to cause a market shift. By then the hysteria from global warming disaster exaggeration will be a memory, and life will go on.
Of course, this could happen much sooner. VCs like Mr. Khosla could succeed in their quest to artificially increase the cost of fossil fuel or subsidize the cost of alternative fuels with tax dollars. That will just make the cost of living more expensive much more quickly. But hey, who cares when you're already a billionaire?