Bubbles, In Perspective
From Thomas Friedman’s Hot, Flat & Crowded:
Bottom line: America needs an energy technology bubble just like the information technology bubble…
Right now, in America, we have a bubble in “stories” about clean energy, but we do not have a clean energy bubble. The amount of venture capital in clean energy in 2007 was less than $5 billion. The amount of venture capital that went into the dot-com boom at its height in 2000: $80 billion.
If $5 billion fell off the table in the dot-com bubble, nobody even bothered to pick it up
I found the above statistics particularly staggering. I really thought clean technology was being over-invested in as a whole, when in fact I was completely wrong. This kills my entire argument next time I am talking about the green stocks, which is usually that many of the firms are simply overvalued. Even if that’s the case, the VC money flooded into clean tech has barely begun.
As a side note, Hot, Flat & Crowded is the most important, and frightening, piece of writing I’ve read in years. Friedman is succinct, thorough and optimistic (as usual) regarding America’s path to remain a competitive force by utilizing green strategies that relate to areas of the globe that I thought were unaffected.
This book should be required reading for college students entering the work force, as green knowledge is now artilary to compete in our economy.
