Gates and biz leaders demand Manhattan Project for Energy

[Dover]

America's top business leaders launch American Energy Innovation Council with calls for increased investment in energy R&D

A group of industry leaders, including Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and General Electric boss Jeff Immelt, stepped up calls for a Manhattan project for low carbon energy last week urging the US government to significantly increase investment in energy research and development.

The group of business leaders formally launched a new group, the American Energy Innovation Council, which immmediately called on the government to increase its annual expenditure on energy research and development by $11bn to $16bn (£10bn) a year.
"Innovations in energy technology can generate significant, quantifiable public benefits that are not reflected in the market price of energy," said the council in a statement, adding that government funding is essential as the level of risk associated with energy R&D makes it difficult to raise the necessary financing from the private sector.

The Council is formed of a number of high-profile executives with Norman Augustine, former chair of Lockheed Martin and John Doerr, partner at cleantech venture capital company Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, joining Gates and Immelt in the group.

"The government investment unlocks a huge amount of private sector activity, " said Gates. "But the government has to prime the pump here. Basic ideas start with government investment."

He added that without greater investment in energy R&D the US would struggle to reduce its reliance on oil. "American dependence on oil has only gone up as we've gone through various crises, and not invested in R&D," he said. "We'll be depending on oil for decades, but only if we start now will we see things like cars run by breakthrough batteries that change things in a dramatic way."

cont'd


http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264674/gates-demand-manhattan-project




I think they ought to call it the Mad Hatters' Green Tea Project

[Terry in Austin]

1. Nice, but the scale is wrong

It wouldn't be a Manhattan Project -- it would have to be more of a World War Two project.

Or as the guy in "Crude Awakening" put it: not an Apollo project but a Let's Colonize Pluto project.

[Dover]

2. lol! Yes indeed...although I hope it's not as far away as Pluto.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: