Clean Tech Investor Vinod Khosla: “Environmentalists Get In The Way”

"Environmentalists get in the way...and do more damage than they know," said Vinod Khosla , one of the world's leading clean tech investors, today at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco. Why? Self-described environmentalists demand or adopt technology that sounds promising without a sense of its true cost or impact to the environment. "Painting your roof white is better for the environment than driving a Prius or similar vehicle," Khosla pointed out. The green movement contrarian famously invested in a business that aims to make coal power cleaner ( Calera ) with carbon sequestration. The very notion displeases environmentalists who are concerned about the way coal is mined, as well as emissions from coal-burning plants.