Google talk
Google CEO Eric Schmidt eats, sleeps and breathes the Internet. Which might explain why that was the last thing he wanted to talk about Tuesday at a New America Foundation event.
Among the topics he covered:
» How to wean the U.S off coal and energy through the “Clean Energy 2030” plan.
» How much money people can save by installing insulation to their homes.
» A California town that offered homeowners incentives for green improvements.
» The benefis of the Farm Loan Act of 1916.
» That we need to find more of “that rock that eats CO2”.
Schmidt serves on Barack Obama’s economic transition team, a topic that attendees were told was strictly off limits during the question/answer segment.
But they still had plenty of questions — and requests for advice. One audience member, who works at the Social Security Administration, asked if there was any help Schmidt could give to their IT department. Another asked why he hasn’t responded to a letter he wrote Schmidt a month ago, to which he responded “Sorry, but it’s not easy for me to set up a meeting with you now in front of 200 people.” There was even an MIT PhD student who wanted to know if his company gives “help” — a.k.a money to fund her student project.
