Political climate right for `green tech,' valley leaders say; DOUBLE FUNDING FOR CLEAN ENERGY, THEY URGE ON D.C. TRIP
BYLINE: Frank Davies, MediaNews Washington Bureau
Corporate leaders and venture capitalists from Silicon Valley lobbied Congress and the Bush administration Wednesday to double federal funding for energy research and help accelerate innovation in clean technologies.
Advocating an ambitious ``green tech'' agenda that includes tax incentives for renewable energy and conservation, the valley leaders said the political climate has shifted and that clean energy will be an important issue in Congress and in the 2008 presidential campaign.
``I've never seen the political alignment like this'' on energy issues, said John Doerr, partner in Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, the Menlo Park venture firm. He cited the support of business, labor, conservative and religious groups for alternative-energy projects and even emissions controls.
The group of chief executives and technologists wields considerable clout. Doerr, an early backer of Al Gore, has helped raise money for Democrats. Another participant, Cisco CEO John Chambers, is the national finance co-chairman of Republican John McCain's campaign.
Clean energy ``will be an inevitable issue in the elections'' next year, Chambers said. ``When you talk to world leaders, it's always in the top three issues.''
The group that hit Capitol Hill and lobbied several Cabinet secretaries included Floyd Kvamme, partner emeritus in Kleiner Perkins; Don Rosenberg, general counsel of Apple; Bruce Aust, executive vice president of the Nasdaq Stock Market; and Cathy Kinney, president of the New York Stock Exchange.
They met with about two dozen members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, as well as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. The lobbying effort was set up by TechNet, an organization created by tech CEOs.
`Institute of Energy'
The green-tech agenda, outlined in a 34-page report, is far-reaching. One recommendation is to follow the model of medical research, now organized in the National Institutes of Health, and consolidate all energy research in one entity -- possibly a National Institute of Energy -- that would also fund public-private partnerships to support energy efficiency initiatives.
As the largest consumer of energy in the nation, the federal government should also become ``an early adopter of promising energy technologies'' and set minimums for alternative energy use by government agencies, the report says.
The tech agenda would also redirect tax incentives, now heavily tilted toward oil, gas and coal. According to the General Accountability Office, the U.S. oil industry received between $134.9 billion and $149.6 billion in tax incentives between 1968 and 2000.
The tech leaders' report warned that Japan, Spain, Germany and other nations are doing a better job at devising policies and incentives to create sustainable markets for renewable energy technologies.
Public senses urgency
Political support for clean technology, even if it means more federal spending, is growing because the public sees an urgency to become energy-independent and tackle greenhouse gas emissions, the CEOs said.
``We are in a crisis, and we have to translate this crisis into opportunity. Missing this moment would be horrible,'' said Aart de Geus, CEO of Synopsys, an electronic design automation firm in Mountain View.
Doerr stressed that corporate leaders want ``a level playing field'' in federal policy that would encourage technological innovation without creating ``winners and losers.''
He said venture capitalists in the last year have doubled their investment in clean technology to about $3 billion.
``We're raging capitalists, and what we're doing is market-based,'' Doerr told a National Press Club audience. ``Every dollar you don't spend on energy is a dollar you can return to shareholders or use to lower costs.''
David Pearce, CEO of Santa Clara-based Miasolé, which makes solar cells, said the federal government could enter into more partnerships with states to encourage use of ``solar, wind, biomass -- whatever works in different states.''
While the corporate leaders exuded optimism, Doerr had a warning for those who often equate the global campaign for clean energy and emissions reductions with the Apollo program to land a human on the moon, or the Manhattan Project that created the atomic bomb.
Such comparisons ``fail to capture the magnitude of what we face,'' Doerr said. ``This cuts across all human behavior. This is like re-industrializing the whole planet.''
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Read TechNet's entire report at www.technet.org/resources/GreenTechReport.pdf.
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More technology news and opinion at www.siliconvalley.com
Contact Frank Davies at fdavies@mercurynews.com or (202) 662-8921.