My life story

“No matter how cleanly or sustainably we power things, the way we manufacture products remains fundamentally extractive. We need to address both—power and production—in parallel.”

For Eli, the earth is the guiding hero of his journey.



Growing up in a community dedicated to regenerative land stewardship, Eli absorbed the principles of natural systems, sustainable farming methods, and the value of community involvement from an early age. His first foray into metalwork was building a blacksmithing forge at age 10, a project nurtured by his father, who encouraged his creativity and hands-on skills. This foundation gave Eli an intuitive understanding of materials, priming him to make quick and decisive engineering choices later in life.

From these beginnings, Eli deepened his “maker” roots by exploring renewable energy solutions, mastering the mechanics needed to bring his inventive ideas to life, and collaborating with other earth-focused innovators.

With a degree in renewable fuels and energy, Eli filed his first patent in 2014, launching his journey as a serial entrepreneur. He went on to work as an inventor, industrial engineer, and fabricator for various ventures, honing his skills in process and project management. During this time, he:

• Developed a breakthrough innovation in wood gasification technology that reduced capital and operational costs by an order of magnitude.
• Won the 2018 XPrize for pioneering “water from air” technology.

In 2020, Eli embarked on a new path, founding his venture studio, New Power Industry. Today, he leads a constellation of projects centered around geocentric distributed manufacturing, reimagining production to shift from highly extractive, centralized factories to models that bring circular economy practices closer to natural resources and local markets, all while regenerating ecosystems. His current projects include:

• Ethanol Revolution’s “Freedom Still 3500,” the world’s first fully automated ethanol distillery designed for small-scale producers.
• A transformative clean cookstove now widely used in Kenya.