Over the past 16 years, I have been involved in 5 successful startup companies ranging from an energy company, to several .com companies. Now I am focusing all of my attention on creating the tipping point in the sustainability movement by pushing initiatives in government, business and the broader social landscape. 
Many people are curious, what I am doing since I left Powerset. Well, the short story is that I have decided to dedicate myself to what I call the new Green Economy and I am working on several initiatives with other leaders in government and businesses that all fall under the responsibility of non-profit that I am founding called SF Green. 
This January, General Electric announced that it was upgrading its investment in Green to $6 billion dollars by 2010. Where is the US? - $2 billion according to George Bush's State of the Union Speech. Why is GE so heavily investing in green? Because they see it as their future. When I heard about GE's revision of its commitment to Green from $4 billion to $6 billion by 2010, I was really struck at how it seems like corporations get Green, people get Green, but our current administration just doesn't seem to get it at all. What's most important about the GE announcement is not that they announced the uptick fro $4-6 billion, it was that they had already put a large amount of that money to work investing in a 600-megawatt portfolio of wind farms in 4 states in the US and Portugal. Why is GE investing so much in wind and not as much in solar? (which seems to be the more sexy investment area these days - capturing $1 billion of the $5.18 billion in total Green investing in 2007)
The answer is simple - it is good business and good money in the wind business - at least according to Alex Urguhart, President and CEO of GE Energy financial Services and head of GE's ecomagination program.
He says "Thanks to our strong customer relationships, our expertise, GE’s technical capabilities, high fossil fuel prices and popular support for cleaner power, renewable energy has become our fastest-growing business. With our broad capabilities to invest equity and debt within and outside the United States -- not only in wind but in solar, biomass, hydro and geothermal power -- we have become a major player in a $60 billion annual renewable energy market."
Is this a PR stunt or is this real? GE is putting its money where its mouth is - in 2007 alone GE put $2 billion dollars to work in Green transactions and expects that by 2010 is will represent 20-25% of its overall energy and water portfolio. That's a really big deal and a major direction that GE is taking. Their portfolio already consists of:
- Elkhorn Valley (101 megawatts), in Union County, Oregon. Built with Vestas V82 turbines, Idaho Power is the project’s offtaker.
- High Prairie II (101 megawatts), in Mower County, Minnesota, 15 miles southeast of Austin, in Clayton, Bennington, Grand Meadow and Marshall counties. High Prairie uses Vestas V82 turbines and has entered into a power purchase agreement with Great River Energy.
- Lone Star II (200 megawatts), in Shackelford County, Texas. J. Aron & Company is the contracted offtaker. The wind farm uses Gamesa G87 turbines.
- Twin Groves II (198 megawatts), in eastern McLean County, Illinois. The wind farm uses Vestas V82 turbines, and its output is contracted to Constellation Energy Commodities Group.
Why is GE's announcement so important? Companies, like GE, who see the opportunity in Green are not waiting on the US government to wake up and smell the coffee, they are moving ahead with their own plans. GE realizes that Green isn't just a tree hugging movement anymore; it is going to be the basis for a whole new economic infrastructure. GE, along with other savvy companies, believes that countries (yes I said countries, not just companies) are going to be making major infrastructure decisions about their energy and water infrastructures. With peak oil, and soon peak water, arriving, countries will place less and less value on the old infrastructures and more value in the new Green infrastructures - not because they want to save the world, but because they want to save their own butts.
If Republicans always listen to big business, then why are none of the GOP candidates following GE's lead? For years, the Republicans claim to have a closer relationship to business and use business, or capitalistic economics, to solve social and environmental problems. if that's so, then why aren't they following GE? Why has George Bush only committed to $2 billion and why have none of the other GOP candidates committed to anything? Yet the Democrat candidates are pushing for $50-$160 billion in investment. Perhaps, the truth of the matter is that it's not that Republicans aren't in touch with big business, but they are more in touch with certain segments of big business, like big oil - who is also investing in Green, but would like to see a much longer runway to change - so they can play catch-up. This doesn't mean oil companies are evil, it just means they are prudently operating their business and that they have a lot of pull in the GOP party. Apparently more than GE.