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Sue L. King, Independent Consultant
Recently, I found Thomas L. Friedman being interviewed
by John Doerr 1, who was guest hosting
the Charlie Rose show that night. Friedman is the three-time Pulitzer
Prize winning foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times and
the author of The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First
Century, as well as the more recently updated version of the same2
. I had tuned in midway into the program, just as Friedman was explaining
how his views have changed as a result of touring the US since he
wrote his book. The subject of the show was “The Looming Energy
Crisis,” an interesting topic in itself. However, what struck
me over and over again as I listened was the critical need for strategic
thinking and innovative leadership, particularly as we attempt to
navigate a future full of major paradigm shifts in energy and environmental
conservation fundamental to our economic as well as ecological well
being. What follows is a summary of the Friedman interview. For
summary purposes, I have reordered the key points made during the
interview.
Friedman says he appreciates that his book propagated the notion
that China and India, in that order, will own the 21st century and
the US is toast. Now, twelve months later, he jokes, “Never
cede a century to a country that is censoring Google!” Friedman
sees an incredible explosion of innovation, innovative thinking,
and experimentation around energy and education in the US. He believes
that these are the key playing fields for success in the 21st century.
He stresses the importance of “dynamic” and “flexible”
thinking, which, he says, he is beginning to see again in the US.
He says American industry still has all the secrets to success in
the fight for the future. He notes that American business is finally
not waiting for the government to lead the country out of this dilemma.
He now believes that, while the US will not automatically win the
battle for 21st century leadership, neither will we automatically
lose.
He cites examples of the type of innovation and the beginning of
key paradigm shifting actions he has seen emerging in the US.
CISCO is looking for ways to add intelligence in their routers
so that they can substantially lower the energy demands of their
clients’ server farms. In a future where the computer is the
network, the energy demands of server farms supporting the network
will be enormous. CISCO understands that whichever company most
reduces the energy load will win future business.
When Texas Instruments (TI) recently set out to build a new chip
fab, it challenged its facilities team. The only way the fab would
be built in Dallas was if the cost could be $180 million less than
the cost of the l999 chip fab. That would be the only way Dallas
would beat out competing countries like Taiwan and China, most of
which were offering incentives to TI to move to their countries.
After initial reactions about the impossibility of doing such a
thing, the team finally came in with a proposal that saved over
$200 million over the 1999 fab cost. The team did this by thinking
“out of the box.” They eliminated an entire floor of
the fab and co-opted $300M in funds from the state of Texas and
other Texas-based businesses to bring UT- Dallas up to Stanford/MIT
quality to support training for new fab staff.
As an example of US innovation deployed outside the US, Friedman
cites the amazing work of Bill McDonough 3, a world-renowned architect
practicing and teaching ecologically, socially, and economically
intelligent architecture. Friedman met Bill, an American, in China
where he is architecting green design cities from the ground up.
As Friedman notes, the Chinese Ministry of Technology is a US Green
Building Council gold-standard green building, advised by the Natural
Resources Defense Council, a US-based non-profit energy advocacy
group. Friedman asked the Chinese which countries contributed the
various technology elements to the building. Thirty to forty percent
came from China, 30 to 40 percent came from Europe, and the rest
came from the US.
Friedman says big paradigm shifts can occur when big players contribute
even for seemingly “wrong reasons.” Walmart, for example,
plans to convert its entire delivery fleet to flexible energy and
is planning to “green” its procurement processes. Friedman
suggests that, while the underlying cause is “about branding,”
such a move by Walmart is bound to lead the way for other big businesses4.
Friedman asks Doerr what KPCB is investing in these days. Doerr
says the venture industry has been investing in clean technology
for a long time at about a six percent rate. They have seen a jump
in growth in this area in the last year. In the last five years,
KPCB has invested in nine new energy ventures, and, in their latest
$800 million fund, at least $100 million is earmarked for energy
initiatives. Doerr indicates that the technologies they are starting
to see today, including new materials, ought to achieve compound
energy improvements approximating Moore’s law, where the bang
for the buck goes to venture capital firms. (It should be noted
that, in May, KPCB inaugurated its Greentech Innovation Network,
consisting of 50 of the world’s leading entrepreneurs, scientists,
and policymakers. They are gathering to build a strategic map for
evaluating needs, to encourage innovation, and to forge new partnerships.
Furthermore, KPCB has announced a Prize for Green Innovation, a
$100,000 annual prize to be awarded starting this fall for the best
technology or policy innovation in Greentech.
Likewise, Doerr asks whether Friedman is putting his money where
his mouth is. Friedman says all his family uses only hybrid cars.
His home is geothermal, heated and cooled naturally by ground temperature.
He is about to retrofit his home to be more solar heated because
the original design team could not economically do this three years
ago when it was built. He deliberately moved to a townhouse with
a reduced land footprint to save greenscape.
Friedman says there is neither a short nor long term solution to
the energy crisis unless American government and leadership are
ready to ask the American people to do something hard. We must get
two things right: (1) we must level the playing field, and (2) we
must force innovations. As an underlying premise for success, we
must educate our youth in math, science, and engineering. He suggests
that the major transformation on energy can be done only if a Republican
oilman from Texas who is also the American president becomes a strong
pro-green leader—this would move the country. He suggests
that President Bush must use the “bully pulpit” of the
presidency to encourage the country to adopt a strong pro-green
policy. He proposes leveling the playing field by enacting a gas
tax and removing the various oil subsidies that have artificially
kept the price of oil low. Higher oil prices will force the American
people to recognize that the price of oil is never going back to
what it was. Secondly, he suggests that the government become the
major early adopter and set high standards for its suppliers in
energy conservation and innovation. Also, the American government
needs to re-examine its position on the Kyoto Protocol and engage
in international conservation initiatives if we expect to continue
as a major world force.
Friedman suggests that an artfully crafted, strong pro-green government
policy led by President Bush would be history-making and enable
the US to lead in the 21st century. He cites a recent poll that
suggests the American people are ready to support such a move. When
asked if they would support a gas tax, 85 percent of the people
polled were against it. However, when asked of they would support
a gas tax from which the proceeds would be used to make the US energy
independent, 55 percent were for it. Further, when asked if they
would support a gas tax if its proceeds would be used to combat
climate change, 59 percent were for it.
Friedman views present political efforts as minor at best and not
likely to engender the major transformation the country needs. He
believes that Al Gore’s movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,”
is incredibly compelling, and Al Gore is sincere and on track on
energy issues. However, he does not believe that Gore demonstrates
the compelling leadership necessary to move the nation forward.
He sees examples of good political initiatives, such as the state
of California’s energy initiatives. He views the NEMW Congressional
Coalition as a boutique effort5.
Friedman says we must approach the energy battle with the same seriousness
as we did the Cold War. Friedman believes the 21st century will
be the Energy Age. He continues to push his agenda through his column
and other professional forums6. For a complete transcript of the
original interview, refer to the Charlie
Rose Website and ask for the interview dated 5/22/06 with Tom
Friedman.
1
John Doerr has been a partner of the notably successful venture
capitalist firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield & Byers since 1980.
Doerr serves on the boards of Google, Amazon, Intuit, Homestore,
and Sun, among others. He has been called “the single best
venture capitalist in the world” and “the center of
gravity in the Internet.”
2 Thomas L.
Friedman, The World is Flat [Updated and Expanded]: A Brief
History of the Twenty-first Century, Farrar, Straus & Giroux,
expanded edition in 2006.
3
William McDonough is a world-renowned architect and winner
of three US presidential awards: the Presidential Award for Sustainable
Development(1996), the National Design Award (2004), and the Presidential
Green Chemistry Challenge Award (2003). His most recent book is
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, William McDonough
and Michael Braungart, North Point Press, 2002.
4 Read more
about Walmart plans as well as other initiatives in Newsweek’s
lead story “The New Greening of America, from Politics
to Lifestyle, Why Saving the Environment is Suddenly Hot,”
July 17, 2006.
5 See www,nemw.org/energy_coalition.htm
6 “Addicted
to Oil” by Ken Levis was first shown at the Silverdocs Festival,
June 2006.
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