It's Bill Gates' world, we're just living in it (with apologies to Steve Jobs, President Obama, and The Goracle).

But seriously - the man is as unique of a leader as the world has ever seen.  And make no mistake about it, he is a leader.  His philanthropy alone would be enough to set him apart from other forward-thinking mega-rich figures, but it's his energy and passion for finding solutions and his tireless devotion to the causes that are most important to the world that leave us bowing at the alter of Gates. 

With that being said, we were pleased when his recent speech at the TED Conference was made available online.  For usually the TED Conference speeches aren't made available for sometime after the event.  And seriously, is there any better way to kill a few hours online that pouring over speechs from TED - they should teach these in college classes. 

We digress.

Gates' went away from his philanthropic focus last week and addressed climate change and energy: “Energy and climate are extremely important to these people," he said to an audience that included the founders of Google and The Goracle. “The climate getting worse means many years that crops won’t grow from too much rain or not enough, leading to starvation and certainly unrest.”  The HuffPo reported, "Gates said the deadline for the world to cut all of its carbon emissions is 2050. He suggested that researchers spend the next 20 years inventing and perfecting clean-energy technologies, and then the next 20 years implementing them.  The world's energy portfolio should not include coal or natural gas, he said, and must include carbon capture and storage technology as well as nuclear, wind and both solar photovoltaics and solar thermal power."

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