On this episode of Exponentially With Azeem Azhar, the famous venture capitalist argues humanity must make hydrogen and fusion work to reach net zero.
(Bloomberg) — Vinod Khosla is one of the world’s most successful venture capitalists, and he’s making the case that the only way to slow global warming in time to avoid catastrophe is to rely on new, unproven and even future technologies.
A serial entrepreneur, investor and founding chief executive of Sun Microsystems, Khosla’s current efforts lay with Khosla Ventures, which focuses on investments in software, artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D printing and healthcare. In the world of climate technology, it’s no longer all about solar panels and wind turbines, Khosla says on the latest episode of Exponentially With Azeem Azhar. Hugely disruptive innovations like fusion and hydrogen are the way to go if humanity wants to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
“There’s a dozen things that are very large emitters of carbon,” Khosla says. “If we fix those dozen, we solve the problem. If we don’t fix those dozen, we will have a problem no matter what else we do.” He also warns that while the capacity for success is there, whether civilization can achieve net zero is at base a political question. “Most of the world’s oil and gas is supplied by companies that are totally or partially controlled by governments,” he explains. “Technology is absolutely necessary, but not sufficient.” To see more episodes of Exponentially, click here.
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