I have mentioned my friend Justin Label, one of the partners at Bessemer Venture, before. Among other things he writes the Venture Again Blog. Bessemer is a highly respected old-line Silicon Valley venture capital firm. It has been an active investor in clean tech for a while, and is a backer of Miasole as well as SV Solar. I found myself on a plane recently with one his colleagues, Ted Lin. More than its investments, Lin was describing to me a new carbon friendly initiative that Bessemer itself is undertaking internally.
Its logic is simple, if it is investing in clean tech because it believes in being part of the global warming solution, not only making money, then it should practice what it preaches.
While still in its early days, it is targeting both its power and travel usage, and expects it will likely implement an internal reduction plan as well as purchasing offsets.
I asked Lin where this came from, and he said this initiative has come down from the top of the firm. It makes sense, and it is good to see the activity happening. My hat is off to the company.
Lin also pointed out that Bessemer is going to be buying offsets for its smaller portfolio companies (those under 50 people). "The goal is that when these companies grow into bigger companies and leave the nest, they will continue the tradition. We want them (our portfolio companies) to lead the next-generation of environmentally responsible enterprises."
One of the things he did ask: did I know any good offset providers? As with any venture capitalist, the company is looking for the "best of breed." So if you are interested in helping Bessemer, e-mail Lin at Ted@bvp.com.
As described on News.com just two months ago:
"One of the more ambitious related projects in the Mideast is Masdar, a $250 million clean-tech investment fund unfurled last year. The government of Abu Dhabi (through Abu Dhabi Future Energy) has put $100 million into Masdar, while Credit Suisse and the Consensus Business Group have put in $100 million and $50 million, respectively. Masdar, which means "source" in Arabic, also plans to set up a think tank with the national water and oil companies."
I had a chance to listen to Alex O'cinneide, one of their investment executives, speak at GreenVest 2007, the recent greentech investing conference I chaired in San Francisco. Speaking to a room of venture capitalists, startups, and industry executives, there were a number of lessons for the rest of us.
In a simple equation:
Oil $ = solar + low carbon + hydrogen
Abu Dhabi is investing in energy innovation and sustainability through the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, which Masdar is the $250 million technology investment arm.
Among some of the more exciting initiatives, Masdar is developing a 100 MW solar thermal plant using parabolic troughs, expecting to build expertise and capabilities for export of this type of technology, not just as a showcase. I am a big fan of the future of large scale solar thermal technology. But Abu Dhabi is also looking at silicon photovoltaics and thin film as well, in a big way.
They are studying a 1 GW hydrogen plant, and tieing that in with carbon credits under Kyoto, and enhanced oil recovery using CO2 injection.
Of keen note, Abu Dhabi is not just doing this for today's energy consumption, they are investing across the spectrum in research, venture capital, and large demonstration as a way to build expertise and gain technology to help underpin a post oil economy - and perhaps be a major exporter of the next generation of energy, too. Hence, their Future Energy company.
I say more power to them . . . and we in the US better not fall behind.
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