Metcalfe on Energy..I beg to differ

October 24, 2008

I heard Ethernet inventor Robert M. Metcalfe this week speak about energy at the Lux Executive Summit on energy. I disagreed with much of what he to say although I know Bob is a very smart and accomplished guy. No doubt, he would stand tall in the networking and Internet Hall of Fame if there was one.

The generalization that put me off the most was his comment that corporate and government labs are “marginal” in terms of output. Then he dinged the Dept. of Energy for not resolving our energy problems. The guy sitting next to me had spent 28 years with DOE and was now working for an organization promoting solar. It didn’t sit well with him either. “Platitudes,” he muttered.

Metcalfe believes students, professors backed with venture capital is the best combination of elements that will come up with the answers to our energy problems. There’s no law against self-serving statements, but it should be noted that Metcalfe is a VC and a “Life Member” of the MIT Corporation Board. Indeed, an immense amount of innovation has sprung from VC, students, professors and MIT. At the same time, IBM Research, a corporate lab to be sure and long run by a one-time monopoly, has been one of the most if not THE most singularly productive research organizations ever.

My dealings with DOE and its National Renewable Energy Laboratory have usually been productive. Just the fact we have a Dept. of Energy intelligently doling out grants to STUDENTS and PROFESSORS at universities like Metcalfe’s MIT is a good thing. Indeed, he forgot to mention the deep partnership worth billions between the government and universities. Casting off DOE as unproductive money pit was a touch cavalier.

My takeaway from Metcalfe’s talk was that he believes in letting the free market resolve our energy problems. The free market is a stinking mess right now because it was neither watched nor monitored or intelligently regulated. A lot of people are suffering as a result.

He is pleased with a nuclear industry waking up from two decades of slumber and said global warming is little more than a “bubble.” I wasn’t quite sure he if thinks global warming is a problem or not, but the intimation was it isn’t. But I agree with his claim that resolving global warming does not necessarily mean we are out of the woods on energy. No doubt, our energy needs are rapidly expanding every year.

More than ever, we need straight talk now about energy. I know I dinged T. Boone Pickens in another blog post, but that’s just because no one from the media can get an interview with him. But he is giving us as much straight talk about energy self-determination movement as any one human being.

Metcalfe also thinks the color for renewable shouldn’t be green so it isn’t associated with environmental movements or worse, hippies or people far to the left. It should be blue for reasons I don’t entirely understand. And he has advocated that we apply lessons of the Internet to finding energy solutions under the banner of the “Enernet.” It sounds good, but I honestly question how much substance there is to the notion.

Like I said, we need straight talk about energy.

Posted by John Dodge on October 24, 2008 | Comments (5)

October 27, 2008

In response to: Metcalfe on Energy..I beg to differ
tanstaafl commented:

We haven't had a true free market for quite a while (don't know if it's generations or not), but it's only human to try to give your organization every possible advantage. It's kind of hard to throw stones if U like your job. OTOH, letting Congress-critters pass earmarks to fund and protect their favorite constituents (those with megabucks) is just asking for trouble. I have a feeling that in a couple of thousand years, folks will look back and ask, "How could they allow that?" in much the same way we look back at ancient Rome and ask how they could allow the buying of votes.
Until the U.S. Congress is reformed, we are doomed to take the worst of all possible paths.

October 27, 2008

In response to: Metcalfe on Energy..I beg to differ
Brad Wood commented:

We haven't had anything resembling a true free market for generations. And it's not because of socialists, but because of the incestuous interpenetration of government and big business.
Every time such a system fails it's blamed on capitalism, and more measures to correct these alleged failures are enacted. And the situation gets worse. And we (or at least most of us) just don't get it. Certainly neither candidate likely to win in a few days gets it.

October 26, 2008

In response to: Metcalfe on Energy..I beg to differ
Michael P. commented:

For more information, see www.terrawatts.com

October 26, 2008

In response to: Metcalfe on Energy..I beg to differ
Michael P. commented:

There is a new world wide web emerging right before our eyes.

It is a global energy network and, like the internet, it will change our culture, society and how we do business. More importantly, it will alter how we use, transform and exchange energy.

Enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth every 40 minutes to meet 100 percent of the entire world's energy needs for a full year.

There is no energy supply problem, there is an energy distribution problem -- and the emerging solution is a new world wide web of electricity.

October 25, 2008

In response to: Metcalfe on Energy..I beg to differ
Bob Metcalfe commented:

Dear John,
Good to see you at Lux, but I am the one begging to differ, not you, who are clearly in the Green, consensus, mainstream, snide, mediagenic, and generally wrong position.
Your friend from DOE may be the exception, whose existence I noted in my talk, but probably not. It may be a platitude, but it's also true, that DOE was created by Jimmy Carter in the 1970s to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. But, DOE's budget has grown over the decades to well over $20B/year and yet, duh, we are much more dependent on foreign oil now than when DOE was started 30 years ago. Which makes my general point, that when you go to Washington to get stuff, you often get the wrong stuff, like corn ethanol and ... DOE.
Sorry you think saying this is not being straight.
Many of us former Internet tycoons are working to meet world needs for cheap and clean energy. I think it's productive to ask how best in the coming decades to deliver squanderable amounts of cheap and clean energy. I am a unabashedly a VC and MIT trustee because I think being so is part of the good way to go. You stick with DOE, not me.
Blue is the new green. I say this, trying to add substance and help you understand, because our energy future is most likely to be found in the blue sky and in the deep blue sea than in green Washington.
/Bob Metcalfe

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