Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers thinks about three numbers when he falls asleep at night: 3, 12, 41. His company is the third largest greenhouse gas emitter in the country and number 12 internationally. If Duke Energy were a country, it would be the 41st largest emitter in the world. At today's MIT Energy Conference Rogers decried the fact that "we're still operating on electricity 1.0." But, he believes, that if today's attendees "can develop the technology, I'm going to be able to scale it." But, with an annual capital budget of $5 billion, what has Rogers done to move his mission forward? Not much it seems, especially when you consider his admission that Rogers has not spoken with his counterparts in India and China about developing technologies and markets to address their companies' contributions to the climate crisis. Although, because "part of the challenge is to take the four million customers and five states [he] serve[s] and help them across that bridge" to a low carbon future, it's easy to assume his domestic focus is pretty sharp. Rogers is "a great believer in an economy wide cap-and trade," "though "the first thing we can do is fund technology. We can do that. We don't have to wait for cap-and-trade legislation. That's not going to happen next year. It will happen in nine or ten."

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, MIT President Susan Hockfield, and Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environment Ian Bowles, were on hand at a press conference today to announce the beginning of a partnership between MIT and Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems. Citing the history of cooperation between Germany and Massachusetts on greentech, such as the collaboration between Q-Cells and Evergreen Solar, Steinmeier said he believed the partnership would be successful in "bringing together the brilliant minds of our two countries." With $5 million from the Mass Tech Collaborative and $1 million from the National Grid, the new Fraunhofer USA Center for Sustainable Energy Systems will focus on developing solar and energy efficiency technologies. The new center will be headed by Evergreen Solar alum Nol Browne. In response to the announcement, Prometheus Institute president Travis Bradford said, "you don't see that every day. And you can quote me on that."

John Doerr's long view talk at today's MIT Energy Conference gave a brief glimpse into how the VC approaches investing in such a crowded market. Following in the mold (one which Doerr himself helped to create) of the big money guys suddenly so worried about the future of our planet, Doerr started out with some big numbers. In the next 40 years, he said, the global population of city dwellers will skyrocket to nearly 6 billion people. "By 2050, that's the equivalent of 40 new megacities" or "like eight new Manhattans a year." What's more there are "two billion people coming on to the world's economic stage and they all want the same thing: clean energy and clean water." And, of course, Doerr has the solution. His concerns - prompted by the words of his two daughters - are speed and scale. How do we build a new energy infrastructure fast enough and big enough to meet the challenge? Well, says Doerr - quoting Billy Joy - "to fund the future you have to find it." When thinking about his investment criteria, Doerr pulls up a big map of the United States's energy infrastructure - it helps him think about where energy comes from, where it's going, and how it gets there. According to Doerr, "more than 55 percent of the energy for electricity is wasted in heat and transmission." This brings him to "cars, coal, and conservation - the three 'C's'." Following these ambiguous investment criteria, Doerr and Kleiner Perkins have invested close to $500 million in 30 greentech companies. These include Fisker, which is producing a vehicle Doerr claims "is going to be the first volume plug-in hybrid in the world when it goes into production next year." Also on the list is Miasolé, whose CIGS cells hit costs of "$0.12/kWh that costs less than $1 per watt peak." Or it would, if only the company could get its sputtering process right. But these are only a few solutions...