Solyndra Aftermath: Google, others still upbeat on Green

Solyndra Aftermath: Google, others still upbeat on Green

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

As the Solyndra aftermath continues to ripple through the green economy, the mood was distinctly upbeat at the AlwaysOn Going Green Conference at San Francisco’s City Hall yesterday. Google’s Green Czar, Bill Weihl confirmed that the company has spent over $850 Million in renewable energy projects (including its latest $75 Million solar project finance deal) and said, “Virtually everything we’ve done to be ‘green’ has made economic sense…we’re able to find creative solutions… that make us money (or) save us money.”

“What can we do to save energy, to be greener? We really try to look at things that other people can do, that can be replicated…”

I had the chance to chat with Weihl backstage and he dismissed the Solyndra debacle as mostly political. He doubts it will impact venture money flowing into the clean tech sector. Instead, he focused on the strides that Google continues to make in the green and sustainable energy sector. Here are video highlights of the event featuring:

  • Ray Rothrock, Partner, Venrock
  • Carrie Armel, Research Associate , Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency, Stanford University
  • Gene Wang, People Power, CEO
  • Bill Weihl, Green Energy Czar, Google

.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…

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Working @Google: Green Carrots & Pogo Sticks

Working @Google: Green Carrots & Pogo Sticks

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

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);

and the ubiquitous compostable cups, plates and cutlery.

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.

Check out the video:
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Find out more about Google’s Green Dream and other Google video interviews

Check out the Fresh Dialogues YouTube Channel

And our Archive of Interviews on Green Education

Google’s Green Dream

Google’s Green Dream

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

Google’s infamous Don’t Be Evil mantra has inspired some remarkable projects, including the newly launched Google Ideas, but it’s Google’s Green Dream that caught my attention this week.

 

On Friday, I sat down with Parag Chokshi, Clean Energy Public Affairs Manager, at Google’s Mountain View Headquarters. We discussed Google’s recently published report, The Impact of Clean Energy Innovation which paints a picture of green nirvana in the US economy and energy market –  if green investment and government incentives spur rapid innovation. And it’s a big IF, based on some rather optimistic assumptions, that’s why we’re calling it Google’s Green Dream.

Check out VIDEO SEGMENT HERE and TRANSCRIPT

Among the report’s predictions… By 2030, clean energy innovation will:

– boost US economic growth by $155-$244 Billion in GDP/year

– create over one million new jobs

– help electric vehicles command a 90% market share (small cars and trucks)

– save households almost $1000/year in energy bills

– reduce US oil consumption by over 1 B barrels/ year and greenhouse gases by 13-20%

The report concludes that if investment and incentives are delayed five years, the opportunity cost will be $2-3 Trillion.

Is this a realistic Green Dream by Google’s Green Czar Bill Weihl and his team? Or naive wishful thinking? Chokshi acknowledges that Google is examining some “aggressive scenarios” but underlines that the report’s purpose is to stimulate debate on how to get to this Green Dream; and to spur more investment by both the public and private sector. In this Fresh Dialogues VIDEO, Chokshi outlines the dramatic improvements in battery technology that are crucial to increasing the adoption of electric vehicles, but declined to confirm whether Google is investing its considerable financial and engineering muscle in the already crowded race to build a better EV battery. We can only speculate.

Check out the VIDEO below and read the TRANSCRIPT.

Coming soon: more Google interview segments on:

Google’s $700 M green spending spree – How Google chooses green investments

Green@Google – A day in the life of a Googler

The interview was recorded on July 8, 2011 in the Nairobi Conference Room, Building 43, Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California.

For more videos and interviews check out Fresh Dialogues policy archives and Fresh Dialogues YouTube Channel.

TJ Rodgers, Cleantech Investor a Global Warming Skeptic

TJ Rodgers, Cleantech Investor a Global Warming Skeptic

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

TJ Rodgers, the outspoken CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, was one of four Visionary Awards recipients at the Oscars of Silicon Valley June 21st –  a gathering of Silicon Valley elite presented by SV Forum. He was introduced by Eric Benhamou of Benhamou Ventures  who described Rodgers as “a tough boss, argumentative and very competitive,” and added “I’m using polite language here.”

Renowned for his libertarian views, and highly critical of government “meddling” in the economy, Rodgers, who led the acquisition of SunPower by Cypress in 2004, shared some of his business philosophy with Fresh Dialogues. And check out this VIDEO CLIP to hear why Rodgers almost named Cypress “Pear Tree” and how he maintains his passion for learning…in his hot tub, with the newspapers, a floating desk and LEDs.

TJ Rodgers on global warming

“Global warming is a secular religion…I call it the Church of Greenhouse Gases.”

TJ Rodgers on New York Times columnist and author of Hot, Flat and Crowded, Tom Friedman

“Friedman is doing a disservice to the American economy. He’s a writer. He knows nothing about cleantech and creating businesses and jobs.”

TJ Rodgers on the role of government in stimulating the green economy

“I believe in a level playing field. Scrap subsidies for oil….I’m against laws like AB 32.”

Note: In 2010, TJ Rodgers took a strong and vocal stand for California’s Proposition 23, which sought the suspension of  AB 32, the law that regulates greenhouse gas emissions. He quit his position on the board of SunPower, adding, “I was at odds with the management of SunPower…they knew who I was when I saved their ass.” (referring to Cypress Semiconductor’s purchase of Sunpower in 2004 which proved to be a mutually advantageous choice for both companies)

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TJ Rodgers on why you should invest in cleantech

“A ‘greater good” motivation is not a good argument. Business isn’t charity. Create products people need, efficiently and produce profit for shareholders. Profits give you the moral high ground…they make for a good economy and more jobs.”

TJ Rodgers on cleantech entrepreneurs who want to ‘save the planet’

“I’d be more skeptical about investing in cleantech entrepreneurs who are motivated by global warming…it’s like a religion. It’s not good business.”

This is part two of Fresh Dialogues coverage of the Visionary Awards 2011. Read part one,  What Makes Silicon Valley Unique

Check out many more PHOTOS from the Visionaries and Fresh Dialogues YouTube Channel Videos here

More on Silicon Valley events here

Science Friday Host: Japan’s Nuclear Disaster – An Opportunity

Science Friday Host: Japan’s Nuclear Disaster – An Opportunity

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

Ira Flatow, the exuberant host of NPR’s Science Friday came to Silicon Valley this week. At a reception for KQED at the St. Claire Hotel Atrium in downtown San Jose, Ira took the stage for an animated conversation with Andrea Kissack, Senior Editor of KQED’s QUEST. Here are some of the highlights:

On Japan’s nuclear disaster

“This is an opportunity to build something new – infrastructure for solar thermal (power plants) for example, or wind power…we could be the Saudi Arabia of Wind. Why do you need one solution? We should look at science – see the biodiversity lesson.”

On nuclear power

“Japan was ‘prepared’ but didn’t plan for the Perfect Storm. Nature will find a way to outsmart us.”

On Global Warming

“Over 50% of incoming Republicans don’t ‘believe’ in global warming. The great majority of scientists AGREE on global warming…we don’t talk about ‘the debate’ on Science Friday. Should you bring creationists in to debate evolution? Or have a debate that the world is not flat?”

On Clean Energy and California

“We look to California as a leader in clean energy. We have to get over cheap gas and pay the real value of gas. We expect $2 a gallon while Europe is paying $10.”

How to change the energy status quo?

“If you want change, you have to DEMAND IT. Like in the 60’s. You can’t change people’s minds if they’re entrenched. With Global Warming however, change is happening and the evidence of melting ice is visible.”

On Science Education

“All kids are natural scientists – they need good teachers and mentors to nurture it.”

I was surprised to learn that Science Friday gets only 10% of its budget from NPR. The remainder it has to raise through fundraising. If you enjoy Science Friday and want to learn more about supporting it, check out this link.

For other Fresh Dialogues interviews with an education focus, click here

Here’s an interview with Ocean Scientist, Robert Ballard

And check out our YouTube Channel

Maureen Dowd: Talks Green

Maureen Dowd: Talks Green

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

This week, we take a look at the Fresh Dialogues archives. Last April, I met with the enchanting Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Maureen Dowd. We had an animated conversation during a green-themed morning in downtown San Jose. Over cups of delicious mint tea, we discussed Maureen’s Irish heritage and how that inspires her fiery prose. We also discussed her belief in America’s green future.

In this excerpt, we discuss fellow New York Times Columnist, Tom Friedman (whom she describes as “her office husband”) and his new book, Hot, Flat & Crowded.

“I try to get advice from Tom Friedman who is Mr. Solar around our office. He’s done a new book which is very involved with energy and his whole house is solar designed… I ask him and he’s trying to coach me in how to be more environmentally correct.”

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Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interview

 

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“This was the first campaign I’ve ever covered where I’d go and watch Hillary and Obama in the primary and they were both competing to come up with a plan for green jobs and for me it’s very exciting because for the eight years that Bush and Cheney were in it felt like we were going backwards in every way. You know we weren’t coming into the 21st Century and we were kinda like the Flintstones – we were just not moving forward. So I love all that.”

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To read the TRANSCRIPT of the full interview click here

To see many other exclusive videos at the FRESH DIALOGUES CHANNEL  click here

For a full archive of interviews with Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman, Martin Sheen and many other celebrities click here