Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt hope to convince the federal government to triple clean tech investments.
The pair of corporate titans said Thursday they want $16 billion to go each year to research, develop and deploy technologies including wind energy, solar and nuclear fission. Their newly created American Energy Innovation Council includes fellow heavyweights John Doerr, a venture capitalist, and Bank of America Chairman Chad Holliday, among others.
On the surface, this flood of money makes obvious sense. But from another perspective, it is nothing new. Contained in proposed federal legislation that is now awaiting congressional approval is clean-tech spending that will increase to $50 billion a year by 2020, according to Mark Trexler, director of climate strategies and markets at risk management firm DNV.
wired
