Founder of Pasadena’s Heliogen Named to List of Most Creative People in Business

The founder and CEO of a Pasadena company backed by billionaire Bill Gates and working to replace fossil fuels with sunlight has been named to Fast Company magazine’s list of the “Most Creative People in Business 2020,” the publication announced Tuesday.

Bill Gross started Heliogen with the goal of harnessing sunlight to generate electricity and heat in a cost-effective way, providing a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, according to the company.

He previously founded Pasadena’s Idealab technology incubator, which has since been involved with the creation of more than 150 companies, according to the organization.

“I’m honored to be included by Fast Company in a group with so many distinguished and creative people,” Gross said.

“I’ve always believed that entrepreneurship and creativity can unlock human potential and change the world, and, to that end, I’ve spent my professional career creating companies ranging from cleantech and robotics to AI and e-commerce,” he said. “At a time when we face so many challenges, I hope – and believe – that creatively using transformative technology to face them can truly make the world a better, more sustainable place.”

Heliogen was recognized on Fast Company’s “World Changing Ideas” list earlier this year..

Heliogen, which enjoys backing by investors including Bill Gates, “uses precisely controlled mirrors to turn sunlight into a superhot beam (like a giant magnifying glass) that can reach temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius — hot enough to manufacture cement, steel, and other industrial materials,” Fast Company reported.

“Gross has since received more than 1,000 requests from companies, either to install Heliogen systems at their own facilities (and get free energy indefinitely, once the infrastructure is paid off) or to build a plant nearby and enter a long-term lease for energy (which Gross plans to sell for about 1 cent per kilowatt-hour, compared to fossil fuel’s 1.5 to 2 cents),” according to the report.

In a statement on Heliogen’s website, Gates discusses the importance of the ambitious endeavor.

“Today, industrial processes like those used to make cement, steel, and other materials are responsible for more than a fifth of all emissions. These materials are everywhere in our lives but we don’t have any proven breakthroughs that will give us affordable, zero-carbon versions of them. If we’re going to get to zero carbon emissions overall, we have a lot of inventing to do,” he said.

“I’m pleased to have been an early backer of Bill Gross’s novel solar concentration technology,” Gates said. “Its capacity to achieve the high temperatures required for these processes is a promising development in the quest to one day replace fossil fuel.”

Gross serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Caltech and ArtCenter College of Design, according to Heliogen.

More information on Heliogen is available at heliogen.com.