Green=Gold for Al Gore anyway

texas1willy2 · 11-03-2009, 09:15 AM

How convenient to hand pick companies to invest in then lobby congress to use those same companies.

Quote:

WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Al Gore thought he had spotted a winner last year when a small California firm sought financing for an energy-saving technology from the venture capital firm where Mr. Gore is a partner.
The company, Silver Spring Networks, produces hardware and software to make the electricity grid more efficient. It came to Mr. Gore’s firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital providers, looking for $75 million to expand its partnerships with utilities seeking to install millions of so-called smart meters in homes and businesses.

Mr. Gore and his partners decided to back the company, and in gratitude Silver Spring retained him and John Doerr, another Kleiner Perkins partner, as unpaid corporate advisers.

The deal appeared to pay off in a big way last week, when the Energy Department announced $3.4 billion in smart grid grants. Of the total, more than $560 million went to utilities with which Silver Spring has contracts. Kleiner Perkins and its partners, including Mr. Gore, could recoup their investment many times over in coming years.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/bu...gore.html?_r=1

Quote:

Critics, mostly on the political right and among global warming skeptics, say Mr. Gore is poised to become the world’s first “carbon billionaire,” profiteering from government policies he supports that would direct billions of dollars to the business ventures he has invested in.

chardog · 11-03-2009, 09:37 AM

wait, algore is a fraud? I'm shocked.

**brackis1** · 11-03-2009, 09:52 AM

Gore=Gold for the anti-environmentalists who want to limit anti-pollution restrictions.
Ironically, it is usually this same bunch that love to make money through big business and laud their financially savvy.

Gore is a douche, but he championed an effort, became an icon in the industry, and his reputation helped projects get publicity and legitimacy. Now the people who can't get in on this action want to cry about it like they wouldn't do the same, nor haven't in the past.

You folks seem to not understand that venture capital firms exist because they can get things done, and make money off VENTURES by using CAPITAL.

I'm more concerned with whether or not the technology is sound and the decision to give grants made sense in the first place.

chardog · 11-03-2009, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brackis1

Gore=Gold for the anti-environmentalists who want to limit anti-pollution restrictions.
Ironically, it is usually this same bunch that love to make money through big business and laud their financially savvy.

Gore is a douche, but he championed an effort, became an icon in the industry, and his reputation helped projects get publicity and legitimacy. Now the people who can't get in on this action want to cry about it like they wouldn't do the same, nor haven't in the past.

You folks seem to not understand that venture capital firms exist because they can get things done, and make money off VENTURES by using CAPITAL.

I'm more concerned with whether or not the technology is sound and the decision to give grants made sense in the first place.

well of course, there's one minor detail.... gore is an insider.... he has the political power to pull in these contracts and destroy competition...

I'm sure people would be angry if cheney instigated a war then became CEO again. People were pissing in their pants because cheney had stock options in haliburton, making few hundred K off of it.

texas1willy2 · 11-03-2009, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brackis1

Gore=Gold for the anti-environmentalists who want to limit anti-pollution restrictions.
Ironically, it is usually this same bunch that love to make money through big business and laud their financially savvy.

Gore is a douche, but he championed an effort, became an icon in the industry, and his reputation helped projects get publicity and legitimacy. Now the people who can't get in on this action want to cry about it like they wouldn't do the same, nor haven't in the past.

You folks seem to not understand that venture capital firms exist because they can get things done, and make money off VENTURES by using CAPITAL.

I'm more concerned with whether or not the technology is sound and the decision to give grants made sense in the first place.

How about the fact that they are going to use this technology to tell us how much electricity we are allowed to use?

**brackis1** · 11-03-2009, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chardog

well of course, there's one minor detail.... gore is an insider.... he has the political power to pull in these contracts and destroy competition...

I'm sure people would be angry if cheney instigated a war then became CEO again. People were pissing in their pants because cheney had stock options in haliburton, making few hundred K off of it.

If you are equating a wave of energy independence investments to instigating an international war then I'm just going to stop talking to you.

chardog · 11-03-2009, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brackis1

If you are equating a wave of energy independence investments to instigating an international war then I'm just going to stop talking to you.

the issue is profiteering, not just instigating

profiteering off of war propaganda.

profiteering off of global warming propaganda.

please stop because I dont want to hurt your feelings.

Dochter · 11-03-2009, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chardog

profiteering off of global warming propaganda.

You seem to be confusing the word "propaganda" in this particular instance with "well supported with mountains of evidence".

chardog · 11-03-2009, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dochter

You seem to be confusing the word "propaganda" in this particular instance with "well supported with mountains of evidence".

are you trying to say that algore is not a propaganda machine?

all the dead polar bears

hockey stick

cities going underwater

you mean to say that's sound science?

Dochter · 11-03-2009, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chardog

are you trying to say that algore is not a propaganda machine?

all the dead polar bears

hockey stick

cities going underwater

you mean to say that's sound science?

Actually yes. Do you even know what the "hockey stick" debate was about? Are you aware that the same pattern shows up in pretty much every available dataset? Are you aware that rising sea levels are a real concern? Sea levels are going to rise, the degree to which this is cataclysmic to some cities has uncertainty but there are no projections where it doesn't happen.