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Mouli Cohen, experienced hi-tech investor and

entrepreneur, discusses the future of power


With the start-up fervor continually shifting to energy in Silicon Valley, it is clear that the
dot-com era is giving way to the “watt-com”* era. Mouli Cohen has gained a unique
perspective on the energy and hi-tech sector with his over 20 years investing in the sector.
In this interviewe, Mr. Cohen shares his thoughts on the future of power as we come
toward the end of 2009.

Question: Does coal power have a place in America’s future?

Mouli Cohen: Does it or should it? Of course this country will be powered in large part
by coal for many years to come. There’s just so much of it under our feet here. We own
something around 27% of the world’s recoverable coal reserves, and you’d have to be
crazy to think we’re not going to burn it. It’s too cheap not to. Of course we need to find a
cheap way of burning it cleaner. Clean coal does not exist as we know it. At least not
today.

Question: When will clean coal be a viable energy alternative?

Mouli Cohen: It depends how clean we want to make it. Coal power plants today are
already pollute many times less than those powering the industrial revolution but we can
do much, much better. Gasification is an incredibly clean process, but it depends upon
extrememly expensive greenhouse gas sequestration. It can be done today, and the coal
industry has spent billions to make it happen and make us believe it is happening. But
there’s not a single coal power plant out there that actually captures a significant portion
of CO2. Until government subsidies make it worthwhile to do so, clean coal on a
commercial scale will be a dream.

Question: Do you think nuclear is safer than coal?

Mouli Cohen: That’s a slippery question for obvious reasons. I’m not ready to prioritize
between the risks posed by climate change and the risks posed by a nuclear
contamination. I know nuclear power generation gets safer by the year, as there’s a lot of
money, especially abroad, being put into research. There is a lot of fear of nuclear, which
fuels that research and progress. On the other hand, coal tech advancement has remained
mostly stagnant, because it seems mostly innocuous. Truthfully, I don’t think either
method of power generation will, or should be, a significant part of this country’s future.
We can do better.
Question: Do you think hydroelectric power has a future in the US?

Mouli Cohen: The Hoover Dam will generate power as long as the Colorado flows. But
you won’t see much in the way of new dams here. Still, there’s a good bit of potential for
hydroelctric development outside the developed world. Hydroelectricity provides a whole
a lot of zero-emission power. Three Gorges, for instance, can power 3% of China when
it’s running at full capacity. That’s 40 million people. It’s an exceptional case considering
the size of the project, but you can’t deny the electricity generating potential provided by
flowing water. Obviously there are serious ecological concerns with hydroelectric power,
but I would never say this or any zero-emission process has no future.

Question: Do you think solar, alone, could ever power this country?

Mouli Cohen: Is it possible? Yes. Maybe you saw that graphic a month or so ago on
gizmodo** where it was shown that a panel field the size of Spain could power the entire
world today. An untold quantity of capturable solar radiation hits the earth every second.
It is there for the taking, and we are getting better at grabbing it and we’re grabbing it
more every day. The solar revolution is here. Last year a private solar company called
Nanosolar collected more private financing than any other private company. The money
is moving into the industry. You will start to see the industry move into your life in the
next few years.

Question: What do you see as the biggest hinderance to clean power?

Mouli Cohen: There are too many obstacles to overcome, but the biggest has to be
population growth. Countries with booming populations can’t force their citizens to go
green. It’s too expensive and it hinders economic growth and equality on the world stage.
Sustainable economic growth is possible, though I’m not sure there’s such thing as
sustainable population growth. Not in the long term. Earth may have already exceeded its
carrying capacity for humans. Hopefully we’ll remedy the situation before we find out
that’s true.

Question: Will there ever be a day when the grid is irrelevant?

Mouli Cohen: No. If things go in the right direction in terms of technological


advancement and if we continue to value our environment, households will indeed
produce just about all the power they’ll need. But a system of transmission lines will
always connect us in my lifetime. How else could one take advantage of surplus power
generated at home? Better batteries will be available, but it would be less wasteful to feed
that electricity into the grid. A grid also offers good insurance that your home will be
powered if something goes wrong with your generating capacity. And we have a natural
instinct for community and to share with our neighbors. It’s efficient, after all. The grid
will exist in the future. A better question might be who is going to own it. The only open
question in my mind is wireless ‘cloud’ power, but there isn’t enough research for me to
have a case for discussion on it today.

Question: Do you see any unforeseen power generating methods coming out of left field
to take a prominent place in the energy industry?

Mouli Cohen: Well, if I foresaw one, it wouldn’t be unforeseen [laughs]. No, we’re not
going to figure out fusion any time soon. I really hope so, and I saw some scientist on 60
Minutes who says we’re a lot closer than skeptics think. That Japanese effort to collect
solar energy from space, and beam it back to earth is ambitious, but I don’t think it’s got a
real commercial future. It costs too much and it’s too risky to send panels into space.
Sure, the solar radiation up there is a lot more pure, but I think we’ll have better luck with
earth-bound methods of energy capture. At least until we figure out how to build a space
elevator. Make that happen, and I’ll give you a dozen unforeseen ways of powering the
earth.

*reference New York Times, March 14, 2007 - Matt Richtel


** www.gizmodo.com/5350191/how-many-solar-panels-would-it-take-to-power-the-
entire-world)

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