OAKLAND, CA — (Marketwire) — 09/30/11 — Nat Goldhaber, a co-founder of venture capital firm Claremont Creek Ventures and managing director of its clean technology investments, told participants at the AlwaysOn GoingGreen 2011 conference in San Francisco on Wednesday that China is much more aggressive than the United States in developing clean technology projects and could dominate clean technology development globally.
Goldhaber made his remarks during the last day of the conference in a presentation titled “Will China Clean Our Clock in Cleantech?”
Goldhaber drew a stark contrast between the construction of the hydroelectric Three Gorges Dam spanning China–s Yangtze River with the development in the U.S. of the Ivanpah photovoltaic solar energy plant in the Mojave Desert. China relocated 1.3 million people to make way for the dam, the world–s largest renewable power system. By contrast, development of BrightSource Energy–s Ivanpah plant, a far smaller project, was stopped for months in 2011 because of concerns it endangered the protected desert tortoise, an issue fully dealt with in the completed and officially approved environmental impact statement.
“Is the United States really serious about developing clean energy?” Goldhaber asked rhetorically. “I would posit we are not, certainly in comparison to China.”
Goldhaber said China was the world–s preeminent cultural, economic and military force in the world for 2,000 years and wants to regain that glory, which could come at the expense of the United States.
China also needs to aggressively develop clean energy and other forms of energy to satisfy its soaring energy consumption, Goldhaber said. Its level of energy consumption exceeds the U.S., he said. China uses three times more coal than the United States, he added, but its goal is to reduce fossil fuel as a percentage of overall energy production.
But the race for clean technology supremacy is not over, Goldhaber said. He said the United States is very entrepreneurial and has a fierce desire to create new and better technology, including clean technology. Further, the United States actually benefits from low-cost Chinese solar panels, which allows it to more easily accomplish alternative energy goals.
Goldhaber said U.S. clean technology development must be enhanced by streamlined regulations and permitting, continued tax incentives, and by much easier immigration policies for foreign graduates from U.S. universities. This would allow more engineering and science graduates to stay in the United States after graduation and contribute to American technological innovation
The two-day executive event, sponsored by AlwaysOn, featured top CEO presentations and high-level debates on the most promising emerging green technologies and new entrepreneurial opportunities.
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Claremont Creek Ventures turbocharges the uncommon startup. As a seed and early stage venture firm, it embraces emerging technologies that accelerate company success, specifically in the healthcare/ IT, energy conservation, and security markets. Utilizing a proprietary life-cycle venturing program, it partners with East-Bay corridor-based entrepreneurs and institutions, including UC Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore Labs and UC Davis. Claremont Creek has more than $300 million in capital under management in two funds. CCV investments in energy conservation include Adura Technologies, Alphabet Energy, Clean Power Finance and Sentilla. For more information, visit .
Jennifer Jones
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