Bill Joy's $50 million eco-friendly yacht

August 25, 2006 | Matt Marshall

Joy

Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, is building a $50 million yacht — an eco-friendly 190-footer named Ethereal — to be the most efficient, eco-friendly boat afloat.

Joy, who is now a venture capitalist at Silicon Valley venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, apparently told Fortune (flip through the glossy pages here; you’ll have to go to page 82 for the full thing) he wants it to be an ambassador for the “green tech” he and his new firm are championing. Pesky light-bulbs, for example, will be designed to use as little light as possible. Lithium-ion batteries will be used for lower, steadier power.

His yachtsman is New Zealander Ron Holland. This should give you some incentive to work hard and make some cash. It’s part of a trend. More and more newly-minted millionaires are building yachts, the article says.

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About the Author, Matt Marshall

Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.