Vinod Khosla in Conversation with KQED's Michael Krasny
April 21, 2010
Successful venture capitalist and “green” entrepreneur Vinod Khosla believes in the power of technology to influence our environment. The intersection of technology with our living landscape will be the subject of his public appearance at 8 p.m. on April 26 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. Khosla will be in conversation with celebrated KQED radio host Michael Krasny. The evening is part of the annual Wallace Stegner Lecture Series, presented by Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) and sponsored by Ambassador Bill and Mrs. Jean Lane.
Khosla rose to prominence in 1982 as the founding CEO of Sun Microsystems. Subsequently he joined the venture capital firm of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Under the banner of Khosla Ventures, a firm he founded in 2004, Khosla raised $1.1 billion for two venture funds last year. The funds finance companies specializing in alternative energy, energy efficiency, new materials and information technology.
Among the companies Khosla has backed is Calera, which makes cement using CO2 as a feedstock. The process turns the traditional idea of carbon sequestration on its head. Another company, Kior, produces high quality crude oil from biomass in order to reduce carbon emissions as well as the need for petroleum imports.
POST’s lecture series is named for the late Wallace Stegner—Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, Stanford University professor and ardent protector of the West’s open land. Media sponsor for the series is Embarcadero Publishing, publishers of the Palo Alto Weekly, Mountain View Voice, The Almanac and Palo Alto Online. The Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Foundation sponsors Khosla’s appearance. Previous speakers this year include farmer/author David Mas Masumoto and travel writer Paul Theroux.
Tickets are available at $22 each through the box office of the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, (650) 903-6000 or online at www.mvcpa.com. Proceeds from the series help support POST’s protection of local open space land.