Bill Joy on Green Tech

Bill Joy, one of the founders of Sun Microsystems, in an interview to CNET. Joy talked about what's needed in green technology, about China and Asia compared to the western world in terms of green engineering, and about the economical driving forces for this industry.

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We've seen the cost of being late to the problem with the financial system. I don't think we can afford to be late to the problem with the climate solutions. The Chinese government has a lot of scientists and engineers involved in the making of these decisions. We have lawyers. The law is as much about protecting what people already have as protecting the future.

I think the engineering approach they are taking is more forward-looking. They are now the leading user of wind, certainly they are the leading manufacturer of solar. These are the industries of the future. We need to both create those industries here and also manufacture the products here.

We need to get more minds engaged. It's great that Bill Gates is now talking about investing in green energy. He knows a lot about entrepreneuring. He's talking publicly about a nuclear venture. That's not my favorite area, but at least it's a start. I'm sure he's looking at other things as well. If it becomes more widely known that he's investing broadly in this, that gives other people courage. We need a boom in this area. Sooner is better. It will happen eventually. There will be a lot of new jobs created. I hope they are here. They only are going to be here if people try to make them; they are not going to appear out of thin air.

from cnet: Bill Joy on Sun's downfall, Microsoft's prospects, green tech (Q&A)