Bill Gates was a rare civilian sharing the limelight alongside
presidents and prime ministers at the opening session of Paris
climate talks on Monday. Offstage, in a barren conference room, he excitedly
described the possibility of generating energy through the
long-speculated process of artificial photosynthesis, using the
energy of sunshine to produce liquid hydrocarbons that could
challenge the supremacy of fossil fuels.
'If it works it would be magical,' says Gates, hugging his
elbows to his side and rocking lightly in his seat.
'Because with liquids you don't have the intermittency
problem batteries.
'You can put the liquid into a big
tank and burn it whenever you want.
'There are dozens of things like that that are high risk but
huge impact if they are successful.'
Gates was in Paris to push his latest bit of entrepreneurial
philanthropy: the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, an informal
club of 28 private investors from around the world, including
several hedge fund billionaires who have agreed to follow his
lead and pump seed money into energy research and development.
Gates believes the energy sector suffers from a dearth of
such funding, the reason much of the world is still burning coal
for its power.
A readiness to put another billion dollars of his own money
into what is already a roughly billion-dollar portfolio of
energy investments was also enough for Gates to convince 20
governments to commit to doubling their own R&D investments
within five years.
'If we are to avoid the levels of warming that are dangerous
we need to move at full speed,' the co-founder of Microsoft told
a trio of journalists including from Reuters
Gates says the energy sector's complacency about developing
new technologies makes it ripe for disruption. 'We need to
surprise them that these alternative ways of doing energy can
come along and come along in an economic way,' he says.
Mark Zuckerberg is among the other big names who have joined the club
Mark Zuckerberg revealed the deal on his Facebook page.
'Priscilla
and I are joining Bill Gates in launching the Breakthrough Energy
Coalition to invest in new clean energy technologies.
'Solving the clean energy problem is an essential part of building a better world.
'We
won't be able to make meaningful progress on other challenges - like
educating or connecting the world - without secure energy and a stable
climate.
'Yet
progress towards a sustainable energy system is too slow, and the
current system doesn't encourage the kind of innovation that will get us
there faster.
'We
already invest in renewable and clean energy for our Facebook
facilities today, but we believe that building a positive future for the
next generation also means investing in long term projects that
companies and governments don’t fund.
'This is an important focus for us, and we'll share more about it in the coming days.'
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