Solar Entrepreneur To Feds: Step It Up
Posted: August 20, 2008 Filed under: Environment, Washington Leave a comment »At the upcoming U.S. political conventions, it’s a safe bet you’ll hear more than a little bluster from Democratic and Republican parties about the need for federal “investment”–don’t call it a subsidy–in renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind and so on.
A lot of hot air? It won’t be for Frank van Mierlo, co-founder and president of Lexington, Mass.-based 1366 Technologies. The young company has raised $12.4 million in venture money in support of its mission to make solar power cost-competitive with coal by 2012.
Key to that mission: a more vigorous role for the U.S. government. “There is no way that we can change the energy resources in our society without real leadership from the government,” says van Mierlo. “The current administration, it’s sad to say, has not provided that leadership.”
