
Gates, Bezos, and 18 others commit $1B to new cleantech fund - CapitalistCartr
https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/11/bill-gates-jeff-bezos-and-18-others-commit-1-billion-to-new-cleantech-fund-breakthrough-energy-ventures/
======
samfisher83
This was posted 12 hours ago:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13155146](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13155146)

------
dchuk
I've become intrigued recently by this technology:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_gasification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_gasification)
and its potential applications in the energy/cleantech space. From what I can
tell, at least in the US, people equate it to "burning trash" and frown upon
it, but it seems like a great technology space we should be investing more
into because no matter what we do, we will always have trash to process/deal
with.

It would be cool to see some startups attack this space. But maybe it's a high
cost of entry space to work in which deters startups?

~~~
lutorm
The argument I've heard against "burning trash" isn't that it's unclean or
anything but that, to the extent stuff in trash is made from oil, still
amounts to burning hydrocarbons. From an energy yield perspective, my
impression is that it's more favorable to e.g. compost organic matter and
recycle plastics.

------
source99
Why not just start building solar plants(or windmills) and energy storage
system?

If we spent billions of dollars on this couldn't we make a serious dent in
carbon emissions quickly?

~~~
traviswingo
Because these people understand that there are experts in these fields that
can do it better than they can. Usually there is always someone who can do it
much better, but is really only limited by money.

------
kolbe
that's like 0.2% of their cumulative net worths.

~~~
kkotak
And a fraction of what a taxi company raised recently. Oh the irony of the
world we live in.

~~~
melvinram
Why the glass half empty view? $1 Billion is still $1 Billion.

~~~
muse900
in my opinion people get too absorbed by hearing others that they donated X
amount of money and then they make them like they are some kind of God's
amongst us for doing so.

My whole life I've been hearing by colleagues etc that Bill Gates is an
amazing human being and he has donated all his money and he has done so many
things for humanity.

I am sorry but I just don't feel the same way and although I think I shouldn't
force my thoughts on others I just feel the need of reminding them that this
person still owns a yacht costing half a billion, he is still the richest man
in the world, and no matter what he donates in my mind he will still be one of
the "humans" that felt the need of having a 400m $ yacht while there are
people out there starving to death.

Please and Thank you.

P.S I know am gonna get down-voted to hell and prolly shadow-banned cause of
my opinion, but doesn't matter no matter what I say or what happens to me will
change the way the world works (there will always be people that see goodness
in people and others like my that are seeing the bad side in people).

~~~
ohstopitu
A lot of my friends have the same view but refuse to discuss about it (I have
THE EXACT opposite view).

In my opinion, he didn't owe the world anything - yet he's donating quiet a
bit (clean water, anti-malaria etc.) - Sure he's got luxuries that most of us
would probably dream about - yatches, jets etc., but he's also done net
positive to the world and that's great.

Usually people who share my view generally counter with "so what have you
done?" and imo that's a wrong way to think about it - everyone's level of
contribution will be different.

If I were in his position, I too would have spent on luxuries (maybe more so
than him) but the end goal is never lost - he's still helping people all over
the world.

\---

My political view on the topic: in a way, your comment reminds me of the
previous election - moral policing of "oh, Trump's against X" and that's
terrible and if you support him for Y, you are still a terrible person because
he supports X lead to the result - people who supported him for Y were unable
to ever get Y discussed and every time they did, X was always brought up,
dismissing Y - so they never bothered discussing/learning etc and instead did
the only thing in their power - look after their self interest of Y.

~~~
zajd
> In my opinion, he didn't owe the world anything

Maybe you're familiar with the social contract? The guy has made billions in
the business world, he doesn't deserve to be lauded for donating a small
fraction of the wealth he'll never need to survive.

It's the equivalent of a grocery store clerk donating $10 to the salvation
army. I don't see news articles written about them. Hell, the poor
consistently donate a greater portion of their wealth than the rich.

~~~
peller
But it's not equivalent, because there's this thing about wealth:

Scenario A: Let's say he donates all he's worth today, minus what he needs to
live out his days and provide for his family. Call it $80B. Awesome. Potential
downsides: giant influx of cash invites corruption/skimming etc, and it also
doesn't promote self-sustainability (from the recipients' cash flow
perspective).

Scenario B: He leaves the bulk of his money invested, accruing 5% annually.
(But since Ray Dalio is mentioned as a partner, it might be closer to 10% or
15%) That's at least $3.5B annually (after 15% capital gains tax). He's 61
years old; call it 25 years of life left. So now we're at 3.5B * 25y = 87.5B.
As a very conservative estimate (5%, no compound interest). AND, he's still
got his original $80B investment "in the bank."

The choice is obvious.

------
paulajohnson
The wrong billionaire won the election.

------
SideburnsOfDoom
Hooray, a group of oligarchs will try to save us from another group of
oligarchs!

~~~
shshhdhs
This kind of comment does nothing to contribute to the conversation.

~~~
SideburnsOfDoom
And this kind of measure only contributes to making the world a livable place
up to a certain point. That is a troubling reality of the current political
situation, and is a conversation worth having.

------
_RPM
Meanwhile, Zuck'N Fuck is trying to figure out how we can click on more ads.

Edit: because at the end of the day, Facebook doesn't make the world a better
place.

