| Sourced From |
An environmental software start-up backed by Al Gore’s venture capital firm aims to take advantage of coming U.S. climate change legislation by helping companies track and report their carbon emissions, Reuters is reporting.
The start-up is named Hara, which is Sanskrit for “green.” Hara started today selling software that “tracks the resources used…, like electricity and water, and emissions like carbon and other waste,” the New York Times reports. “The software then forecasts future emissions and helps a company choose ways to reduce them, like new lights or a different type of refrigerator. It tracks its progress and creates an audit trail.”
Hara CEO Amit Chatterjee said his company is just the first wave of what he called “a post-carbon economy,” which he predicted will flower during this decade.
Coca-Cola is already using the software “as part of a pilot project to track greenhouse gas emissions for its 1,000 facilities worldwide,” the Times reported. “It helps Coca-Cola keep track of projects that vary by country. In South Africa, for example, Coca-Cola is switching from heavy crude oil to natural gas.” The city of Palo Alto, Calif., is another customer.
Reuters pointed out that Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers last year invested $6 million in Hara — thanks to the endorsement of former U.S. Vice President Gore, who is a partner in Kleiner Perkins as well as the Nobel and Oscar-winning star of “An Inconvenient Truth.”
“This company would not have existed if Al Gore had not bought off on the idea,” Chatterjee said.
