From geeks to greens

Feb 28th 2008 NEW YORK
Executives are switching in droves from the computer industry to clean-technology firms. Do they have what it takes to succeed?
Shai Agassi, long the heir apparent at SAP, doesn’t become chief executive and so he quit in the company. In January, he will have his first deal in partnership with Renault and the government of Israel. They want to get an entire country off its addiction to gasoline by switching to electric cars.

Mr Agassi will work together with Elon Musk, a co-founder of PayPal who is now chairman of Tesla Motors, an electric-car start-up. Another partner will be Vinod Khosla, a legendary venture capitalist who has switched his focus from dotcommery to greenery. Adam Grosser, a partner at Foundation Capital, said that there’s an unbelievable migration of talent from traditional technology to clean technology. They have had their social conscience energized and they believe that there is a lot of money to be made.

The most of these techies are being recruited by the same venture firms that had successive generations, from PC-makers to software companies to two waves of internet firms. Along with Foundation Capital, several of the leading venture firms are now betting on green.
There are questions if the skills that make somebody a successful entrepreneur or investor in digital technology also work with green technology. People also wonder if it will be possible to build an electric car in a garage? What a software guru brings to biofuels?

With this article, there are more good alternatives to lower the unhealthy gases. Cars cause a lot of gases so if they would be electric, it would be much better. Companies that bet more and more on green energy is how it should be by all the companies so the future looks good if they go on like that.

Source: http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10766460&CFID=8239820&CFTOKEN=6e4ce695eccc402e-938CD191-B27C-BB00-01430E2B051409A4