Energy, Renewables and Start-up Costs
By Joe Haslam I
f success in buying property is location,
location, location then
success in venture capital is team, team, team. One of my favourite questions to any entrepreneur whose project I´m considering investing in is “why isn’t
electricity cheaper?”
In the same way that interviewers at Microsoft used to ask “why are manhole covers round?” or “how many gas stations are in the US?”
The interesting part is not the answer but how the person you are talking with structures the problem. Should competition and efficiencies not drive down the price? And what about renewables? If you are not paying for wind or sun in the way you pay for coal, oil and gas then surely the only costs you have is transmission?
It is the best example I have to illustrate what political scientists call Realpolitik, the notion that not everyone wants progress and the change depends primarily on power and on practical and material factors and
considerations, rather than ideological notions or moralistic or ethical premise. In other words, just because something makes sense and benefits
the majority doesn’t
mean it can or will happen. I would argue that both Creative Destruction and Disruptive Innovation are forces for good but a great many people like and profit by keeping things the way they are. Any start up entrepreneur should take note of this and establish very early on who will want them to succeed and therefore help them versus who is just pretending. I´ve
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