Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates made headlines a few weeks ago when he decided to join Twitter, amassing hundreds of thousands of followers within just a few hours of signing up for the service. Just last week, Gates made an appearance on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show to discuss the release of his second annual letter describing the progress the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has made. Needless to say, Gates has had a busy 2010 so far.
Gates’ foundation is focused on improving the conditions in developing countries by providing funding for supplies and research and by raising global awareness. Now Gates is beginning to focus on another way to improve the general condition of the world: green tech.
In an interview with CNET’s Ina Fried last week, Gates announced he has invested in Vinod Khosla’s fund, which raised over $1 billion for green-tech innovation last year.
“There’s one breakthrough that is called for, and that’s the ability to generate electricity with lower cost than we get it today, but no CO2 emission,” said Gates. “I invested in Vinod Khosla’s fund because he is backing some great entrepreneurs. I get some exposure to them as part of that.”
Gates, who compiles his thoughts on various issues at his newly launched site, Gates Notes, says that innovation is “called for in a big way” to help achieve carbonless energy efficiency.
“Conservation and behavior change alone will not get us to the dramatically lower levels of CO2 emissions needed to make a real difference,” writes Gates on his website. “We also need to focus on developing innovative technologies that produce energy without generating any CO2 emissions at all.”
Gates says the world is “distracted from what counts on this issue in a big way,” and that short-sighted goals are less important than looking further ahead. He believes the key goal to achieve is an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050, a goal he says will only be reached through innovation.
