By Dan Fost
June 1, 2009
Reporting from San Francisco -- Amit Chatterjee worked for three Silicon Valley start-ups and software company SAP, but he was growing increasingly intrigued by global warming and climate change. The more he delved into the issue, the more he became convinced that there was a way to use software to help tackle the problem.
His idea -- to help companies track and manage their use of energy, water and other resources -- drew the backing of the valley's most prominent venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Today, thanks to Kleiner's $6-million investment, Chatterjee unveils his latest start-up, Hara, which monitors and manages companies' water and energy consumption, and helps them plan ways to mitigate their environmental effects.
Hara's arrival, after operating quietly for the last year and a half, shows how the tech wizards behind many Internet companies are now hard at work building digital solutions to save water, money, energy and maybe even the planet. Kleiner Perkins managing partner Ted Schlein, a Hara board member, calls it "the greening of IT," saying that large corporations are ready to use information technology to make their businesses more eco-friendly because it's the right thing to do and it can save them money.
To read the full LA Times article, click HERE