More on Vinod Khosla

• Posted by Richard Brandt
• On August 26, 2008


• Interests: Energy and the Environment

In my last posting, I talked about Vinod Khosla’s criticism of several green technologies -- such as photovoltaic solar, hybrid or electric cars and “clean” coal -- as unlikely to have any significant impact on global warming. Khosla believes that in order to make a real difference,  politicians, and individual consumers, have to begin looking past the popular fads. "The real solution always comes from left field," he says. "I expect the same thing to happen in energy."

So what does excite him? Try this left-of-green-field idea: Cement. Specifically, "green" cement that can literally suck atmospheric carbon out of the sky and store it in roads and the walls of buildings. "We think cement is the solution to carbon sequestration," he says with the sort of enthusiasm once reserved for discussions of the potential of computer networks. “Green cement is absolutely key to climate change. I think it will be cheaper than regular cement.”

Better yet, if governments will allow carbon trading systems to become a robust market, Khosla believes he could give away the green cement and sell carbon credits to polluters. It would have the added benefit of making it much less expensive to build roads two feet thick instead of six inches.

And what about ethanol and alternate fuel? The first thing that should happen is that politicians should end corn and oil subsidies (a scenario he concedes is unlikely.) Then alternative sources of sugar for ethanol would stand a much better chance of competing. Perennial crops such as Sorghuna could provide a much more consistent flow of ethanol than corn, which grows only in summer and uses up a lot of land. He believes that 60 million acres of soghuna crops could meet all the gasoline demand in the U.S., and do it more cheaply than oil.  Even if competition from ethanol and other alternative fuels drive the price of oil back down to $50 per barrel, he insists that the right ethanol technology could still be cheaper and end U.S. dependence on oil within two decades.

He also favors geothermal energy derived from the heat of the earth's core and solar thermal energy, a much simpler technology than photovoltaics that uses mirrors to concentrate the sun's heat on tanks of water to produce steam.

Still, he’s willing to invest in green technology that can make him a profit even if it won’t change the world. While he scoffs at the value of hybrid cars, he sees it as a good market and is an investor in companies pursuing better battery technology to serve that market.

The controversy he generates, and the amount of work needed to pursue green tech investments has created much more upheaval in his life than he expected. “I feel like I've been caught up in a tornado not of my own making,” he says. But he’s unapologetic for creating a stir. “The reason I have controversial views is because they're based on sound analysis.”

And in the end, he optimistic that we will find the right solutions. “It's extremely likely that we will have technology solutions to meet the market criteria,” he says. “Policy is the swing factor.”

While it will be difficult to get politicians to change, the right pressure from voters can push them in the right direction, or bring in newcomers with better policies. For example, he says, “I’m optimistic that the next president will put a carbon cap and trade system in place.”

What’s really needed is for societies to demand the change, and insist on solutions that really work. Right now, he believes the trends for change are headed in the right direction. He believes that societies change for three primary reasons: natural calamities, war and new technology. Calamities such as Hurricane Katrina raise the call for more environmentally sound policies, even if there is no evidence they are in fact the result of global warming. The country is at war, -- “partly because of our dependence on oil,” he adds. And new technologies show strong promise of providing the solutions we need.

Says Khosla, “We may, for the first time, have all three factors operating in our favor.”

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