Canwest News Service

Al Gore has been accused of profiting from the climate-change agenda after claims that he is on course to become the first “carbon billionaire.” The former U.S. vice-president is in line to make a large profit from a firm producing smart meters that monitor household electricity use.

he is a partner in a Silicon Valley venture-capital firm that invested $80 million in Silver Spring Networks, a California company that developed the technology to make the electricity grid more efficient.

The U.S. Energy Department recently announced $3.5 billion in grants for “green” projects. A proportion of that, thought to be more than $540 million, will go to utility operators with which Silver Spring has contracts.

The venture capitalists who invested, including Gore, are poised to receive a handsome return.

Since leaving office, Gore has campaigned relentlessly on green issues. his 2006 film an Inconvenient Truth, which followed his attempts to educate people about the dangers of global warming, won an Oscar for best documentary. it showed Gore giving slide shows about the catastrophic effects of climate change. he has presented the slide show more than 1,000 times.

Gore, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, has also just published his latest book on global warming, our choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, which advocates new energy-saving technologies and policies.

Since he quit mainstream politics, Gore’s personal fortune has risen from $2 million to an estimated $106 million.

he has made significant investments in environmentally friendly projects such as carbon-trading markets, solar power, biofuels, electric vehicles, sustainable fish farming and waterless toilets. he has also invested in non-climate-change-related businesses, including putting money into Google and Apple.

Gore says that it was “certainly not true” that he was going to become a “carbon billionaire” and that the suggestion came from global-warming deniers.

“I am proud to put my money where my mouth is for the past 30 years. and though that is not the majority of my business activities, I absolutely believe in investing in accordance with my beliefs and my values,” he said.

At a hearing earlier this year on clean-energy legislation, Gore was challenged by Marsha Blackburn, a Republican congresswoman, over his investments.

she said: “The legislation that we are discussing here today — is that something that you are going to personally benefit from?” Gore said: “I believe that the transition to a green economy is good for our economy and good for all of us, and I have invested in it.” he added that he had put “every penny” he has made from his investments into the non-profit Alliance for Climate Protection, which campaigns for solutions to climate change.

in a heated exchange, Gore said: “If you believe that the reason I have been working on this issue for 30 years is because of greed, you don’t know me.” Gore said he was “proud” of his record of investing in green technology.

But global-warming skeptics were not convinced.

Marc Morano of climate-depot.com said: “Al Gore wants to become the first carbon billionaire and he is poised to do it.

“As much as Gore’s made now, it is going to be [nothing] compared to what he is going to make in five years if all these new carbon-trading mandates go through.”

Leave a Comment

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 12:36 am and is filed under Technology. you can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. you can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

ANAN calls for true deregulation by CHARLES NWAOGUJIFriday, November 20, 2009

Immediate past President of Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), mr. Samuel Nzekwe, has called on the Federal government to stem tide of outward flow of investment to other West African countries. Nzekwe believes that the outward flow of investment out of Nigeria is necessitated by unfavourable investment climate in the country.

he told Daily Sun in an interview in Lagos that there is no way the economy of the country can move forward without adequate electricity, security, infrastructure, education and efficient judicial system.

said him: “We don’t need God to come from haven before we can repair our roads. The roads in the country have become death traps, especially at Ore-Benin road linking the South-East and South-South. “How can you create wealth without power; the artisans, market women need electricity as a matter of necessity to be able to sustain their business. I therefore call on Federal government to refocus and kick start the economy by putting in place adequate power, infrastructure (including road, security and education).”

On the financial sector, which is a catalyst for the growth and development of the real sector, he said it has not performed well. he noted that there is a total disconnection between financial and real sectors of the economy caused by shortage of long-term funds, which the real sector requires for necessary growth and development. he said that there is urgent need to deepen and diversify the financial products. The regulators of the financial sector should ensure sustained stability and avoid policy summersault so as to ensure investors’ confidence. there is need to always harmonize fiscal and monetary. he gave kudos to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi for proactive measures to make stone sure that no bank collapses.

he commendable CBN governor’s effort, and further advised that they have to keep watch so that nothing bad happens to the banks because according to him, if anything should happen again, nobody will patronize banks again. On de-regulation, he said that persistent increases in the ex-depot price of LPFO automatically affects the price of gas, which was cheaper and safer alternative source of power supply in the country. he noted that this development which is inimical to the growth of the manufacturing sector is capable of stirring up restiveness within the sector.

as a palliative measure, he called on the government to implement a new gas price in the form of a subsidy akin to the electricity multi year tariff system recently put in place in the power sector. according to him, this would go a long way to reduce the excessive exogenous induced operating cost, thereby making Nigerian products competitive. “I foresee a situation if the gas price regime is not tackled serious, this may stir up restiveness in the manufacturing sector and the entire economy, which may result to investment closures and movement of industry from Nigeria to other countries in the sub-region,” he said.

he said that a de-regulation scheme that do not dismantle government price fixing machinery like the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency, Petroleum Equalization Fund and the corruption ridden Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will only unleashed more hardships on the people and wipe out the already crippled Nigerian businesses tethering on the precipice due to high cost of energy amid Nigeria’s ceaseless power outages.

he pointed out that true deregulation must address the issue of ownership and control of essential infrastructure, the issue of private refineries; private sector participation in the ownership of pipeline and maritime loading and discharge point he noted that Nigeria requires a deregulation scheme that will create an enabling environment for the private sector to actively participate in refining and sourcing of petroleum products for the ultimate consumer. “If government failure this time around to implement true deregulation but engage in mere price increase will deepen peoples mistrust of government even as it will further aggravate the present national economic crisis,” he added.

Make N3 million by referring a bullet-proof car buyer

How to get any Woman you Want. Click Here!

Make N450,000 Online Monthly. Click Here