How Billionaires Gates, Bezos and Zuckerberg Could Boost Clean Energy

The founders of Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook launch a new group to tackle climate change. Their ideas include delivery drones, advanced nuclear reactors, and solar paint.

They’re more than a who’s who of Silicon Valley. The new billionaires’ clean energy club consists of the world’s tech titans, including leaders in India and China.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates announced Monday, the first day of  two-week UN climate talks in Paris, that a group of 28 private investors will help countries shift from fossil fuels to energy sources that do not emit planet-warming greenhouse gases.

“Current government funding levels for clean energy are simply insufficient to meet the challenges before us,” the Breakthrough Energy Coalition says on its website. What the group promises is a “different kind of investor with a long term commitment” and "patient" capital.

Gates says the investors aim to get clean-energy ideas out of the lab

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