Why do your venture capital firms not seed clean energy startups?

That's not true. Kleiner-Perkins is huge into cleantech -- probably more deeply than any other VC fund.

grist.org

Yes, I heard from John Doerr, they are not interested in the beginnings of new clean energy technologies, lean more on the established...
And unlike the usual startup-centric VC approach, Kleiner's strategy focuses on existing alternative-energy companies that are well beyond the launch phase.

In essence, like some of the biggest private equity shops, Kleiner is becoming more of an asset gatherer, as opposed to a builder as it was in the early days of Amazon and Google.  There are a couple other VC firms as successful with IRRs as Kleiner, and they do look for emerging technologies on the ground, diamonds in the rough.  

I wish Al Gore would advocate for new radical clean energy startups at Kleiner.  Seed capital is very low cost and very important.

I think it is mainly connections that a company gets from VCs, not the funding that is more important.  Look at the push that people like Khosla give once they have secured property rights at 100ths of a cent on the dollar compared to the eventual value of an amazon or google.

Cut a few big shots into the deal, and the next thing you know Bill C. is pushing ethanol plants for you all over the globe.  Funded by Bill Gates and Branson.

It's not the cash, it's the connections.  But only after a statrtup signs away it's ideas.  That gives the ideas commercial "credibility".  Hehey, that means they become worth stealling for a song.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

Did you mean reducing the income tax of people with under 100k in earnings Al?  In an amount equal to the carbon tax collected.  That leaves out social security.

I would presume that as carbon energy is reduced the tax rate would go up or as the revenue fell and income tax cuts were eliminated to balance the budget, energy prices would fall to benefit taxpayers even more than the tax cuts did.

Here is a better question on the tax idea DR.

Al would you say this taxcut/carbon tax takes the danger out of pricing carbon with cap and trade? The danger of yet another  manipulated trading bubble/crash event, this time in carbon emission permits?

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

Or at least recommend it as the biggest impact anyone can have to reduce their carbon footprint (aside from not having any kids)?