While others are fixated on immediate returns, Palihapitiya is fixated on a lucrative future. And now, two Silicon Valleys–the original and the Canadian “Tech Triangle” that is aiming to compete with California’s version–are preparing to turn North America into the Saudi Arabia of clean energy.
Tesla, for one, isn’t just the world’s biggest EV manufacturer; or even the world’s biggest car company right now. It’s a distributed energy company that also makes batteries, solar panels and the Powerwall. They aren’t just pumping out electric vehicles. “They are figuring out how to harvest energy, how to store it, and then how to use it to allow humans to be productive,” notes Palihapitiya. It’s certainly becoming easier to imagine Elon Musk as the world’s first trillionaire. But the rest of the green-tech energy crew have the financial aspects of climate change on their mind, and this is where investors need to be looking for future returns.