Stanford’s $100M Energy Initiative Event—Live Blog

5:00 pm: John Doerr commented on opportunities in renewable energy. "Everywhere you turn you are confronted by insurmountable opportunity."  One example he gave was in advanced third-generation solar cells. He also mentioned that he had read a survey that claimed there were more than 200 solar startups and that Silicon Valley could soon be Solar Valley. (He's right about that number -- I wrote that survey, btw.)

4:55 pm: John Doerr spoke to the U.S. Congress last week, at least those Democrats who showed up. These were his points:

• Use the economic recovery act to stimulate the smart grid.
• Put a price and cap on carbon.
• Impose a national renewable portfolio standard.
• Set utility regulations to make them partners to foster energy efficiency.
• Get serious about funding research.
• Do not overlook the investments we have to make in education.

4:50 pm: "Batteries are the holy grail of renewable energy and the U.S. isn't even in the battery race," said John Doerr of KPCB.

4:35 pm: John Doerr, occasional lachrymose partner at Kleiner Perkins spoke last. "We are not doing enough research," he said, adding,  "The Internet is a trillion dollar economy and energy is a six trillion dollar economy -- it could be the largest economic opportunity of the 21st century."  He quoted Al Gore: "We borrow a billion dollars a day from China to give to the Mideast to burn it in the U.S. to harm our planet."

4:30 pm: There are 137 faculty members involved with energy at Stanford.  Most of them are here at a packed house at Stanford's Memorial Auditorium.

4:25 pm: Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO claimed that the green building initiatives undertaken at Google's campus had an 18 month payback.

4:15 pm: Lynn Orr, the director of the new institute states: "The first essential step is putting a price on carbon." This spring, the center will kickoff their program with a $2 million innovation competition.

4:00 pm: Just spoke to James Woolsey, former Director of the CIA, and now a Venture Partner at VantagePont Venture Partners.  He's busy looking for deals and technologies in distributed energy -- biofuels, solar roofs  and energy storage.  His recent book imagines a conversation between environmentalist John Muir and General George Patton -- with the finding that defense hawks and tree huggers want similar things with regards to energy.

3:00 pm: Amid the death march of layoffs found elsewhere on this site brought to you by Michael "The Undertaker" Kanellos, I am placed in the unaccustomed role of bringing happy, optimistic news.

Stanford University just announced a massive $100 million initiative to tackle energy issues: The Precourt Institute for Energy with donations from Stanford graduates, Jay Precourt and the husband and wife team of Thomas Steyer and Kat Taylor, hence the name -- TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy.  Nothing to do with Tom Cruise and his wife.

The $100 million gift was raised quickly and is dedicated to programs, not buildings.  The money is to be used to hire new staff, establish post doc fellowships, and fund an energy research and innovation fund.

According to the founders: "Greentech needs a lot more discoveries and new inventions" and "we are looking for new technology that meets the China price."

Interestingly, Jay Precourt, the major funder made some of his fortune in the oil industry.

I'm live blogging from the event at the moment and if the panelists say anything interesting or if John Doerr cries, I'll let you know.