In 2000, I established a clean energy and technology transfer organization that earned international acclaim and won several international awards for technical, social and economic innovation. In my leadership role as Co-founder and CEO I designed and managed several clean energy projects in off-grid areas in North America, South America, Asia, and Africa.  

My experience is hard earned. I have worked in many remote and isolated communities in very challenging areas around the world. My work has demonstrated that clean energy technologies can be the central means for community development and the realization of potential for those suffering from energy poverty.

Electricity generated by inexpensive, robust and reliable solar or micro-hydro installations serves to provide the means for education, livelihoods and enhanced security. Communities regain their vitality. Leaders emerge and women and girls find the means to secure their practical and strategic interests. 

Energy provision is not, in and of itself, the end of poverty but it is the central means for combining community interventions (social, economic, technical, governance) for meeting the practical and strategic needs of communities experiencing poverty in its many forms.  

Designing and implementing liberating technologies in unserved communities is a passion of mine. I developed an Energy Poverty Curriculum that I have delivered to many schools in Canada. I have mentored and taught students (public, private, indigenous) through class instruction, workshops and competitions. My design work with university students (including Harvard, Stanford, MIT, University of Calgary, University of Moratuwa) has led to the propagation of many ventures including the DLight, STAR EcoWorks energy systems, Crystal Electronics, Pico Power Nepal among others. 

My work has been pioneering and ground-breaking. The organizations I founded, co-founded or helped to propagate have paved the way for follow-on enterprises, international agencies and NGOs to integrate community power systems into their development strategies. Energy poverty is a barrier to human development and the realization of potential. The provision of reliable renewable energy for impoverished communities is essential to improving social outcomes and protection of the environment. 

That is My Game. 

Ken Robertson

Founder

Inspirador Solutions