Speaking on Clean Energy, the Environment, and Sustainability

A very senior businessman I’ve known for a long while has asked me to serve as a panelist for a conference his group is putting on next September in San Diego.  He writes, “I assume (your expertise) falls into two areas — what are investors looking for, as well as any of the topics related to energy.”

I respond:  Sure, I’ll do it.  Yes, I would say discussions related to clean energy, the environment, and sustainability are all fairly strong for me – at least from a high level.

I don’t claim to have any unique insights as to what investors want. I would simply say what the audience, I’m sure, already knows, i.e., that investors want low risk and high returns in a very short period of time.  Of course, that’s the problem we face here in renewables, which are longer-term and capital intensive by nature, and they compete against forms of energy that are extremely inexpensive, because, in general, we don’t seem to care that they are ruining the planet.  This is one of the reasons we’re having trouble making headway here.