[HN Gopher] USV Climate Fund
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USV Climate Fund
Author : tosh
Score : 103 points
Date : 2021-01-08 14:28 UTC (8 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.usv.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.usv.com)
| andys627 wrote:
| This is awesome and necessary but don't get distracted from the
| real low hanging fruit that is consuming less - less driving,
| smaller houses, vegetarianism, fewer toys.
| andreasklinger wrote:
| I think people here underestimate how much money will be made in
| climate tech in the next decades.
|
| It's literally changing the map of the world, shifting the access
| (and use) of resources and the livelihood of people worldwide.
|
| Not that i think it's a good thing that this needs to exist but
| mitigation and adaption to this change will be a huge industry.
| carapace wrote:
| But isn't that just a (vast) instance of the "Broken Window"
| fallacy?
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window
|
| > The parable of the broken window was introduced by French
| economist Frederic Bastiat in his 1850 essay _" Ce qu'on voit
| et ce qu'on ne voit pas"_ ("That Which We See and That Which We
| Do Not See") to illustrate why destruction, and the money spent
| to recover from destruction, is not actually a net benefit to
| society.
| philipkglass wrote:
| It would be an example if the parent _advocated_ for
| breakage. But the historical breakage is vast already. It 's
| still ongoing. Parent is just pointing out that it's going to
| be a good time for glaziers.
| lbarrow wrote:
| Sure, but the broken window fallacy basically just serves to
| illustrate that there are opportunity costs when we spend
| resources on fixing something. The benefits we get from these
| investments are still real, they're just less than what we
| might have gotten otherwise.
|
| To put it another way - climate change is sure to be a
| disaster, but if we get better recycling technology, more
| efficient cars, pollution-free power generation and other
| improvements as part of the work of fighting it, that's at
| least a silver lining.
| ajsharp wrote:
| 100%. The market is fundamentally different than it was the
| last time "green tech" tried to become a thing. Solar is nearly
| at price parity with fossil fuels. The space is currently
| exploding and will transform the world in the next 10-20 years.
| In many ways it already is (see: Tesla).
| justicezyx wrote:
| What are some etf/sticks you are following in this category?
|
| (Not asking investment advice)
| olau wrote:
| For wind, take a look at the companies in the FAN ETF.
| There's a similar one for PV: TAN ETF. Great puns, really.
| oh_sigh wrote:
| That sounds like a lot of money will be spent more than
| necessarily a lot made?
| kingnothing wrote:
| If one person is spending money, someone else is receiving
| it.
| tito wrote:
| Climate change will create the first trillionaire. Sounds like
| USV is riding the carbon wave.
| loceng wrote:
| Elon?
| ohazi wrote:
| No, inflation and financial inertia will create the first
| trillionaire. It just so happens that the "oh shit, we really
| fucked up" climate moment is happening at roughly the same
| time.
| gustaf wrote:
| Very excited about this! Hoping more firms will make this
| decision
| antr wrote:
| USV jumping on the ESG bandwagon. LPs want/need to deploy capital
| into ESG, and USV is creating a fund to channel that excess
| liquidity. They will probably mask climate-related investments,
| with pure tech investments. Very much replicating what other
| funds have done, but really not making an impact in this space.
| Nonetheless, for USV this is more AUMs, more fees. On returns,
| time will tell.
| jamest wrote:
| Yes, this falls in the bucket of ESG (Environmental, Social,
| and Governance) [1]
|
| Yes, there's a trend of investors seeking to deploy capital
| towards ESG (thankfully!)
|
| No, this isn't going to gussy up pure-tech with the 'climate'
| label. I say this as former-USV founder who is now a USV LP. I
| can also attest to how solid the humans at USV are.
|
| [1] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/environmental-social-
| an...
| boulos wrote:
| James, you've gotta update your profile :).
| sf_rob wrote:
| Major tangent, but a product that I can't believe doesn't seem to
| exist is window fans (not AC units) with passive shutters to
| prevent air leakage when not in use. I've actually built an
| exhaust fan in our rental house that somewhat meets these specs.
|
| There are so many old houses that rely on window fans for fresh
| air or exhaust. The fact that these fans are literally just open
| fans with all the leakage that entails is quite inefficient.
|
| This seems like a product with the same BOM cost as an existing
| popular product but with incremental energy benefits and no need
| for construction.
| ketamine__ wrote:
| When they aren't in use take them out of the window. Problem
| solved.
| blacksmith_tb wrote:
| Obviously overkill/unneeded overhead, but most window AC units
| have a 'fan-only' setting that doesn't run the compressor. They
| aren't entirely sealed when not in use, either, of course. It
| does seem like it be easy enough to build a box with a fan and
| some louvers, maybe even a frame to hold an insulated cover on
| the inside...
| pstuart wrote:
| Doubling down on that: with air filter / swamp cooler options.
| jkuria wrote:
| Isn't this what led Kleiner Perkins down the wrong path and
| tarnished John Doerr's reputation? He made a killing investing in
| tech stocks in the 90's and 2000s then decided he wanted to do
| good for the world and leave a legacy for his kids, and got into
| climate, clean tech and other 'feel good' stuff. The results were
| not pretty!
|
| I believe it is best to use one's wealth and earnings to invest
| in climate stuff outside of a formal fund, with no expectation of
| outsize returns.
| somethoughts wrote:
| While true in the financial sense - it somewhat depends on if
| success can only be a binary measurement and the only measure
| that matters is return to LPs. [1]
|
| If the alternative reality is allowed to be entertained, it is
| very much possible to say KP was instrumental in laying the
| groundwork for a clean tech VC ecosystem - jumpstarting VC
| activity amongst other VCs and supplying a ton of critical
| social cred to clean teach entrepreneurs/engineers that they
| were legit and not just tree-hugging pie-in-the-sky dreamers.
|
| Herd mentality and FOMO among other competing VCs following
| suit likely significantly multiplied the amount of clean tech
| VC dollars that KP directly allocated and led to many of the
| successful clean tech companies today.
|
| Also there's a ton of fundamental clean tech R&D that was
| learned in the areas of energy demand management, solar and
| battery tech knowledge at the KP funded startups. It was also
| much more visible what failed so subsequent startups could
| avoid those hazards. And as engineers at the failed startups
| dispersed, they could then be picked up by future successful
| players.
|
| And even though it lost, there's also a ton of social cred in
| KP putting in a bid for Tesla's Series C. It set a lower bound
| on Tesla stake for Vantage Point and gave Elon that much more
| capital at a crucial stage. [2]
|
| [1] https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-
| rctom/submission/weathering...
|
| [2] https://pando.com/2012/07/17/who-made-the-bigger-mistake-
| in-...
| asdfasgasdgasdg wrote:
| Maybe. Lots of people lost money in the dot com bust but over
| the next decade even more was made by the shareholders of
| various internet companies.
| thesausageking wrote:
| The $1B question is whether or not this cycle of climate tech
| is different. There's some good reasons to believe it is.
| Climate change is much more dire and we're starting to actively
| feel the effects. Consumers and governments are more aware of
| it and actively want solutions, which means there is real
| market demand for electric cars, clean energy generation, etc.
| This all means that, unlike cleantech 1.0, there are real
| business models for these startups.
| CamelCaseName wrote:
| While that is ideal, another strategy is to implement
| government subsidies (or taxes) to privatize the social costs
| of pollution.
|
| Regrettably, Al Gore's loss in 2000 saw environmental policy
| fall by the wayside and we are slowly picking up the pieces.
|
| Carbon credits is a good example of this, but it illustrates
| the pitfalls clearly: if not everyone is subject to the same
| environmental regulations, those who are will lose their
| competitive edge.
| engineer_22 wrote:
| Two questions:
|
| Is climate mitigated economic activity as financially efficient
| as non-mitigated activity?
|
| Is the goal of the fund to maximize return on capital invested,
| or do their investors tolerate financial risk for the chance to
| change the world?
| joubert wrote:
| There's money to be made in solving climate problems.
|
| From their site: " Mitigation is working on the causes of the
| climate crisis through either emissions reduction or drawdown
| of existing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Adaptation is
| working on the consequences of the climate crisis, such as
| increased risk of crop failure."
|
| and
|
| " The USV Climate Fund is a straight-up venture fund. We
| believe that decarbonizing the economy and dealing with past
| emissions (and their consequences), offers many opportunities
| for building important new companies that can produce venture
| type returns. The transformation of all aspects of the physical
| world over the coming decades will be on par with the changes
| brought about by digital technology."
|
| So they're betting the problem space is big enough and
| solutions will be in high demand.
| oulipo wrote:
| On another note, if you're looking for a NGO fund which addresses
| climate change actions, take a look at the amazing Founder's
| Pledge climate fund https://founderspledge.com/funds/climate-
| change-fund
| silviaterra wrote:
| Hello HN! We're SilviaTerra, one of the inaugural companies in
| the USV Climate Fund.
|
| If this is exciting to you - we're hiring!
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25641668
| carapace wrote:
| Sort of a tangent, but have you heard of Miyawaki?
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Miyawaki#Method_and_cond...
|
| > The Miyawaki method of reconstitution of "indigenous forests
| by indigenous trees" produces a rich, dense and efficient
| protective pioneer forest in 20 to 30 years
| formercoder wrote:
| Wonder how this will compare to other funds of the same vintage
| in a few years.
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