Enormous opportunities lie ahead for thin-film solar cells, said Bill Joy, partner at the venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
But the fall in the price of oil threatens a generation of green-energy entrepreneurs, setting back the nation’s efforts to combat global warming, Joy said this week during an on-stage interview at the Churchill Club.
We take the climate status quo too lightly, say Bill Joy
Joy, a co-founded Sun Microsystems who now invests in clean-tech startups at KP, said the government could bring stability to alternative-fuel markets by demanding a percentage of the country’s energy come from renewable sources.
At the same time, Silicon Valley can play a role in developing thin-film solar cells because of its expertise with semiconductors, he said. But the valley will not be the only center of innovation in green tech, Joy added, suggesting Boston, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Germany have specialties to harness.
At Kleiner, partners have been working with former Vice President and climate crusader Al Gore to find solutions to global warming. – and investment ideas.
The alternative is letting the planet become inhospitable. “We take the status quo too lightly,” said Joy.
