Planetsave

Reuters has a cool story “Eco-millionaires see boom times ahead” where they ask four eco-entrepreneurs two simple questions- ‘how did you get rich’ and “is ‘the business of green’ a bubble?”. It shouldn’t be a surprise that none of them think green business is a bubble- more they saw it as the way that everything will eventually run and as of now a very rich source of business opportunity.

 

Green business has already made a lot of people rich and will only make more even richer (I’m working on being on that list). The four eco-entrepreneurs interviewed - Bruce Khouri, co-founder of Solar Integrated Technologies; Pedro Moura Cots, co-founder of EcoSecurities; David Scaysbrook, founder of Novera Energy; and Neil Eckert, the CEO of Climate Exchange - share some good bits of wisdom, jump over to the post for the full read, here’s a quick snip of the wind guy (close to my own heart- I have a sizeable piece of equity in my now-ass kicking startup Renewable Choice Energy, the nation’s leading provider of wind credits):

DAVID SCAYSBROOK, founder of Novera Energy, a 43-year old Australian, made 3 million pounds ($6 million) when he cashed in some of his shares in the wind power and landfill gas firm he founded in 1998. He has about 3 million pounds ($6 million) worth of shares invested in Novera and carbon cutter Camco International, which he advises.

Q: How did you get rich?

A: Three things had pushed up share valuations in the wind power industry, he said.

First, people were more worried about energy security and producing energy themselves. Second, the cost of traditional energy sources such as oil and gas had gone up. Third, tax breaks, subsidies and emissions caps had prompted even more conservative investors “to finally move off their perch”.

Q: Is ‘the business of green’ a bubble?

A: “The scale of investment to date is nothing compared to what is coming.

“The bubble aspect is ill-informed investors chasing pipe-dream technology. For example, there are hundreds of firms competing for the next generation of technology in solar panels but it won’t necessarily be the best technology that wins.”