Sign up for free to get the latest from greenbang direct to your inbox
 
Home | Research Store | Work With Us | Events | Insight | Press | About | Newsletter | Contact

$244 billion man to set up own green VC fund

Published Monday, 28th April 2008

money.jpgIf you spent your days pushing around £124 billion, it must be difficult to find a new career that would still get your pulse racing. Great white shark wrestler, professional russian roulette player, Naomi Campbell’s maid – the options must be somewhat limited.

None of the above, apparently – the answer is, of course, green tech.

Russell Read is the chief investment officer of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Calpers) and is used to handing $244 billion’s worth of raw cash for the pension fund.

But, he told The Independent he’s had enough of that particular fund and he’s off to start his own VC firm with an eye on clean tech.

According to Read, not enough money is getting to companies quickly enough – which is where his VC venture will come in.

Read told the Indy:

“We could find new sources of energy without causing the same crises that we are seeing at the moment. What is missing is investment vehicles that can identify and develop and scale up the most compelling opportunities that are being developed by research institutions and other private sector initiatives.”

Among the sectors tickling his fancy are wood biofuels, the Independent says.

Bookmark and share:
  • Twitter
  • Google Bookmarks
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Digg
  • Slashdot
  • del.icio.us
  • email
  • Print
  • PDF




Please note: Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment. There is no need to resubmit your comment.












RELATED NEWS

Latest Insight

Heat dials up on smart-thermostat wars thumbnail

Heat dials up on smart-thermostat wars

Transform boring, old technology into something with next-generation smarts and huge market potential,
How NOT to cover energy news thumbnail

How NOT to cover energy news

What’s the best way to understand developments in the energy world? A Daily
How much coal is left? thumbnail

How much coal is left?

Compared to natural gas, the US is using proportionately less coal than it

LATEST REPORTS
1

Who’s the leading smart-city brand?

More than half of the world’s nearly seven billion people now live in urban areas, and that proportion is expected to reach almost 69 per cent by 2050. To avoid pushing local and global systems to the point of collapse, cities will need to become much smarter and more efficient Read more ...
more info
2

Managing the smart-grid data overload

Developing the UK’s smart-grid infrastructure will require communications and data technologies that can manage far more information than utilities must handle today. That’s the focus of a strategy report from Greenbang Research: “Enabling the UK’s smart-grid future: The wireless spectrum debate.” The report answers such questions as: Should dedicated Read more ...
more info
3

Incentives fire up UK solar market

The introduction of the feed-in tariff (FIT) incentive policy on 1 April has sparked an explosive reaction in the UK renewable energy market with solar leading the way in installations, according to a new Greenbang research report titled, “The UK’s Feed-in Tariff: Impact, response and market trends for the decade Read more ...
more info