Our Story
Dr. Abigail Mechtenberg's research students encouraged her to start a non-profit to replace her Lego Energy Camps. Previously, she had run summer energy camps for middle school and high school students, including at MIT. These camps raised the money for her innovative research and development projects. So, Empower Energy Design, was born. EED because a non-profit corporation with 501(c)3 status dedicated to sustainable energy solutions for low-to-middle-income countries.
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Abigail’s research centered on innovative energy systems that could transform lives. She had a passion for empowering communities, particularly in regions where energy access and reliability was a constant struggle. Over the years, she implemented the E3 curriculum and taught technicians and engineers how to design, build and install these energy systems.
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​Partnering with local engineers and technicians, EED envisioned a hybrid microgrid that could provide traditional electricity (solar, wind, batteries, and generator, typically diesel, but also petrol and bioenergy based), but also facilitate education and healthcare services for backup microgrids during energy crises. Some of these R&D projects developed into a research paper on the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) due to failures in hospitals where patients die. EED's research collaborations called the new energy economic metric VSL/E or value of statistical life lost divided by electricity shortage which was in the same units as traditional LCOE.
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This project, she believed, could change the trajectory of an entire community. Together with engineers and technicians around the world, EED is determined to empower engineers and economists or business entrepreneurs with the energy systems knowledge, research access to papers and funds. We slowed down greatly during COVID, but are gaining a stronger foundation.