Eco-millionaires see boom times ahead

By Chris Wills

LONDON (Reuters) - Mankind's response to climate change will shift how the world gets its energy and is already making "green barons" out of early investors in renewable energy, clean technologies and carbon trading.

Reuters spoke to four entrepreneurs who are cashing in on the energy revolution and who say there is more money to be made.

BRUCE KHOURI, co-founder of Solar Integrated Technologies, based in Los Angeles, has at the age of 48 made $5 million by cashing in shares in the company.

He still has a $11 million stake in the company, which makes lightweight solar panels for commercial roofs. He saw the opportunity while running his own industrial roofing firm.

Q: How did you get rich?

A: "It hasn't been easy but we transformed an old-world roofing material into a renewable energy technology. It's a miracle Solar Integrated is still here but a pioneer charging across the prairie is bound to get hit by a few arrows."

As long ago as the early 1990s Khouri saw a market for flexible solar panels which could be laminated on to large roofs, such as warehouses. He did not found Solar Integrated until 2001 once tax and subsidy incentives made the market more attractive.

Q: Is 'the business of green' a bubble?

A: "No. For political reasons the United States has been behind others on green issues, but once it catches up it will be a domino effect. In 20 years they won't talk about regular roofing because it just won't exist ... there is so much rooftop real estate that is completely under-utilized.

"And 50 years from now every bit of a building that is struck by the sun will be generating power in some way."

PEDRO MOURA COSTA, co-founder of Oxford-based EcoSecurities, 44, made 4.8 million pounds ($10 million) when he sold some shares in the firm which helps convert emission cuts into tradable carbon credits. His remaining shares are worth about 37 million pounds ($73 million).

Q: How did you get rich?

A: "I saw the carbon market could be big business and the Kyoto Protocol confirmed my views. But I didn't expect it to take 10 years to come into force."

Moura Costa was working as a forester in Malaysia when he saw the potential for an international carbon credit market.

He spent the early 1990s advising on a project to plant trees in Borneo to compensate for extra carbon pollution from new power plants in the Netherlands.