Electricity is no longer just a utility.
It is the bloodstream of the modern world, the invisible current powering how humans live, move, and transact. From the first light bulb switched on in a darkened room to the data centers hosting the digital economy, electricity has always defined the boundaries of what’s possible.
And yet, as humanity steps into an era of unprecedented innovation, the very system designed to carry our potential [the grid] is cracking under pressure.
The Grid We Inherited
The grid is one of the largest and oldest machines on earth. Built for a simpler time, it was never designed for the billions of devices [solar panels, electric vehicles, wearables, mobile phones] constantly pulling and pushing energy today.
Climate change has only worsened this fragility. Floods, heatwaves, and storms bring grids crashing down. Outages ripple through homes and businesses. Productivity stalls. Progress halts. Entire economies suffer.
The result is a global energy paradox: humanity needs electricity more than ever before, but access to reliable, affordable, and clean power is increasingly out of reach.
- 3.5 billion people lack reliable electricity.
- $50 billion is spent annually on backup generators
- $150 billion is lost annually in the U.S. economy alone from power outages.
- In Nigeria, 22 million generators roar daily, their combined output 8x the national grid’s capacity.
Electricity is meant to unlock human potential. Instead, its absence is caging it.
The Death of Productivity
For individuals, unreliable power means food spoiling, unsafe water, children studying by candlelight, appliances breaking, and health compromised by fumes and carbon monoxide.
For businesses, it means missed sales, lost data, idle employees, mounting costs, and, too often, doors permanently closed.
At the heart of it, one thing dies: productivity.
And without productivity, there can be no prosperity.
Introducing PowerLabs
At PowerLabs, we exist to create a planet with limitless human productivity through intelligent energy.
We are a clean energy research and deployment lab, building the tools, data, and systems that transform energy from a fragile utility into a foundation of human prosperity.
Our work begins with data.