Some economists and venture capitalists say the long
term rise in gas and oil prices is driving something of a technology boom. In
2007, $148 billion went towards alternative energy development. One report says such investment is expected
to triple in the next few years, creating more energy efficient products for
use on the road, and in homes and businesses. VOA's Paul Sisco has today's
Searching for Solutions report.
 |
Solar panels
|
Billions of dollars were spent on new
wind, solar and biofuel projects last year.
According to the United Nations Environmental Program, 60 percent more
money was in invested in 2007, than in the 2006.
"There
is certainly a gold rush of speculation. Kind of like 1849, when everyone was
rushing with their picks and shovels and finding opportunities," venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson said.
Some call it a green gold rush. Efforts are under way
to turn everything from cow manure, algae, cooking oil, corn, even tiny
microbes into new sources of fuel.
 |
| Dr. Steven Hutcheson |
At the laboratories of a Maryland company called
Zymetis. Dr Steven Hutcheson is
developing a process to turn waste paper products into biofuels, using
bacterium.
"We can work with materials that are not
currently being recycled,” Hutcheson said. “We can get reasonable yields of ethanol from that material and
use that for production. It is not
going to solve the countries total energy needs but it's a place to
start."
Technology forecaster Paul Saffo says energy
investments are accelerated by soaring gas prices.
"There is a lot of
money coming in,” Saffo said. “It is going to make a difference but all of
these technologies take time to deploy."
Jurvetson says higher gas prices can be seen as a
good thing. "If gas prices stayed artificially low for the next 10 to 20
years we probably wouldn't see as much innovation that we desperately need as a
planet to stave off future global warming," Jurvetson said.
The U.N. says such yearly investment will triple in
the next few years and continue rising through the next decade.
E-mail This Article
Print Version
