Brendan MacDonald, PhD, P.Eng.

CEO and Founder, Ekstera

Roughly seventy percent of the energy heavy industry burns simply vanishes as waste heat, flushing a small fortune up the smokestack. Brendan reengineered the two-century-old Stirling engine into an efficient system that turns waste heat into electricity with no boilers, no emissions, and almost no maintenance. He piloted it on an exhaust stack at a Cambridge, Ontario steel mill, running on gas hitting 800ºC, hot enough to melt aluminum, and signed deployment agreements with major cement and steel producers, raising $2.5 million along the way. Each megawatt his engines generate offsets roughly 3,000 tonnes of CO2 a year. Looks like the oldest engine still has some new tricks up its piston.