I would have had no clue today was Earth Day, but thankfully the major online search engine and portals remembered. Its become the industry standard of late for online portals to create event specific banners to celebrate holidays. Below are some examples of the Earth Day banners. Ask.com had a similar one , but its too big and also who really goes to ask.com.
So rather than pointing out how online companies utilize graphics to get in the spirit of holidays, I thought it would be a good time to bring attention to a couple of interesting investments in Green Technology.
Its clear that corporate America has come around in acknowledging the need to be viewed as a environmentally responsible company. At the forefront of this is GM and Chevron, who are spending millions touting their green technology initiatives. Unfortunately I view most of this self proclamation of a change of heart, as being too little too late.
2 initiatives that do stick out as being whole hearted attempts to be more eco friendly is Tesla Motors and Boone Picken’s recent investment in wind energy.
Pickens, a billionaire oil kingpin (manages BP), recently announced a 10 billion dollar investment to setup the world’s largest wind farm.
Below is a video from a year ago highlighting the initial proposal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScWyDpDD_bQ&hl=en&fs=1
Picken’s wind farm upon completion will be about 5x the largest wind farm in the world, will cover 200,000 acres, and will generate enough electricity to power one million homes.
Yeah this should have been done years ago, but its encouraging to see one of the world’s most notorious oil tycoons turning the corner and investing in a cleaner form of energy.
Next up is Tesla Motors who makes the car below.
The Tesla Roadster is lightning quick going 0-60 in under 4 seconds, has RPM redline of 13,000, and is the premier car for Silicon Valley CEO’s and Hollywood’s A list. Why you ask? Because its electric.
With a 220 mile range and a MPG equivalency of 135 mpg, the Roadster doesn’t sacrifice much and has been compared very favorably to other sports cars (MotoTrend review below)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=j6b4qbBvkAc
Tesla is slowly rolling out the Roadster to those who have pre purchased and hopes to ramp up production through out 2008. The good news is that Tesla is hoping to release a luxury sedan and an economy car in the coming years.
While building a car company from the ground up is nearly impossible, Tesla is well funded and is backed by a powerful assortment of VC firms and Silicon Valley CEO’s. Below is a recent video of the first Roadster being assembled in San Carlos.
I have been following Tesla for awhile and have even met a couple of their employees. I am an avid fan of what they are doing and am optimistic that the future is bright for them as they begin to ship more cars and develop different cars. Clearly the idea of $4 gas is going to drastically change our buying preferences for cars, and Tesla has the product and vision to deliver on this unfulfilled market.
