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Meet the Experts |
Martin Nix, Seattle: I am a solar energy inventor. What I am finding from venture capital firms is a very hostile reception. Myself and others who have patented devices are finding it impossible to locate capital funding for mass production of solar devices. My solar cooker invention for example is now used in refugee camps world wide. (fat chance Oil and Gas Journal will report solar cooking competing with propane!). Solar has the potential to give many energy independence. Excuse the preaching, but it is solar inventions like this that are not getting funding. One device here in the northwest is a system of triangles that can be folded into a parabolic solar collector, so that you can make steam for a home. Another device uses the light from a natural gas burner to heat a home and make electricity at the same time. None of these devices are in mass production. Manufacturing is very different than retail, often requiring
big upfront expenses. With this preamble I pop the question
"what will it take to get the big investors to open investment
capital for mass production for new solar energy devices?"
Ned Ford, of the Sierra Club's Global Warming Committee, responds: There is no question that large-scale production of many existing devices would substantially cut costs, improve the products and make it possible to bypass the fossil era for people of all nations. There is also no question that some of the many ideas that have moved to the patent stage or beyond are important, while many others are not all they are advertised to be. If there is a good answer, it is that increasing the market for renewable technologies by limiting carbon will turn the roadblock into a postive flow. Other legislative changes, regulatory changes and public education efforts can do so as well, but with more limited impact overall. BP, for example, could make a difference here but so could a lot of other companies. Congress could create or expand existing programs to help speed up the development of products like solar cookers, and could do more to recognize that energy and economic savings anywhere benefit the U.S. Up to Top |
