Bill Joy, Sun co-founder and the "Edison of the Internet", has written an article in yesterday's Washington Post titled"
Bill writes, "Information technology has rapidly transformed our economy but not areas
such as energy, materials and food, where we desperately need
sustainability. We need to change our course."
He expands on these topics, "Using a target list of 25 clean-tech “grand challenges,” I worked for
over a decade to find, fund and commercialize big breakthroughs. One
such challenge was radically cheaper batteries."
It is also interesting when Bill writes about the grid:
"But electric vehicles won’t be truly emissions-free unless we
decarbonize the grid. Rechargeable alkaline batteries can be made so
cheaply that we can imagine a grid where we can store a kilowatt-hour of
electricity for less than a cent, saving wind and solar energy so it is
available when we need it. This could be a grid that runs entirely on
renewables; a grid that can move energy 24 hours a day from producers to
and between storage locations; a grid where utilities can be not just
providers of power but provide a marketplace for energy; a grid where
fossil fuel and other existing generation capacity is used only for
backup in extreme cases."
Bill Joy is a genius and it is fascinating to watch what big problems he is trying to solve now. Long ago he established himself as a legend in the computer industry going back to UCB and then with Sun Microsystems. He ends with the "grand challenge" that has defined his professional life since leaving Sun.
"We sought “grand challenge” breakthroughs because they can lead to a
cascade of positive effects and transformations far beyond their initial
applications. The grand challenge approach works — dramatic
improvements reducing energy, materials and food impact are possible. If
we widely deploy such breakthrough innovations, we will take big steps
toward a sustainable future."
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