Sunil Cherian
Sunil Cherian, the founder and CEO of Spirae, Inc. in Fort Collins, Colorado, works on smart grid technology that balances variations in supply and demand from diverse energy sources to best meet the needs of energy consumers.
Theresa Dankovich
Theresa Dankovich invented germ-killing water filters as a graduate student and co-founded her company Folia Water in 2016 to scale up production. Folia Filters (patent pending) are made of thick paper embedded with silver nanoparticles, which are lethal to microbes.
Subhendu Guha
In the 1990s, he created a photovoltaic panel that was lightweight, flexible, rugged, durable, and easy to install. He also led the invention of flexible solar roofing shingles. Guha believed that it was important not only to reduce reliance on fossil fuels through solar energy but also to make electricity available for people in developing countries where no electrical grid exists.
Kim Jordan
Kim Jordan, co-founder and former CEO of New Belgium Brewing Co. in Fort Collins, Colorado, dedicated the brewery to environmental stewardship from its outset.
Paul MacCready
In addition to designing human- and solar-powered aircraft, Paul MacCready (1925–2007) also invented new kinds of electric cars in collaboration with General Motors.
Amy Prieto
Colombian-born inventor Amy Prieto is developing new, fast-charging, long-lasting, and green rechargeable batteries. She founded her company, Prieto Battery, in 2009 to take the battery from research to prototype to commercialization.
David Stone
Concrete is used in the construction of buildings, roads, bridges, sidewalks, and more. But making all of the cement that is used as the binder in concrete releases billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. David Stone's invention of Ferrock could change that by incorporating recycled materials and making it not just carbon neutral but carbon negative, meaning that it absorbs more CO2 than was used in its production.
John Warner
In 1998, John Warner and Paul Anastas published the ground-breaking book, Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, and in 2007, he founded the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry as an invention factory to create technologies and processes that are functional, cost-effective, and environmentally benign.
Bryan Willson
Bryan Willson, professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Energy Institute at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, has a wide-ranging vision for clean energy.
This work was made possible through grant support of the Lemelson Foundation.
