Saul Griffith (born 1974) is an Australian-American

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an id ...

and renewable electricity advocate. He is the founder or co-founder of multiple companies, including Otherlab (where he is currently CEO), Makani Power, and Instructables.

Education

In 2000, Griffith graduated from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...

with a Master of Engineering degree. He won a scholarship to

MIT Media Lab The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fixed academic disciplines, but draws from ...

to study towards a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

that he completed in 2004. The subject of his PhD thesis was "self-replicating machines". They were one of the first instances of artificial replication being demonstrated using real

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which rel ...

Projects

Griffith is the co-founder and CEO of OtherLab, a research and development company working on computational manufacturing and design tools and applying those tools to projects such as inflatable pneumatic robots and prostheses, novel approaches to heliostat design, and applications of computational origami to the design of pressure vessels (e.g. for compressed

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon ...

) in arbitrary shapes. Otherlab's R&D is guided by a vast map of energy flows in the US economy, which they use to identify key leverage points in building a more sustainable energy economy. Griffith used this energy flow mapping for Rewiring America, a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

working on electrification. He argues that the United States can create 30 million jobs, save consumers money, boost energy resiliency, and accelerate achievement of a

net zero Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the ...

economy. Previously, he was a co-founder of Squid Labs, and its spinout companies and projects Makani Power, Instructables,

Wattzon WattzOn provides utility bill data to energy and credit markets. They offer three products. Link Energy transfers data from utilities to a consumer app. Link Prime transfers utility bill payment history to credit bureaus. Snap is a machine learning ...

, HowToons, OptiOpia, Potenco, Sunfolding, Other Machine Company and Monkeylectric. Saul Griffith shot at Pop!Tech by Kris Krug

Personal life

Griffith used to live in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. As of 2022, he has relocated to Australia, living in

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near w ...

. He is married to

Tim O'Reilly Tim O'Reilly (born 6 June 1954) is the founder of O'Reilly Media (formerly O'Reilly & Associates). He popularised the terms open source and Web 2.0. Education and early life Born in County Cork, Ireland, Tim O'Reilly moved to San Francisco, Ca ...

's daughter Arwen. He has two children. Griffith's mother is a wildlife artist, early

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth ...

activist and printmaker, while his father is a retired professor.

Publications

* ''Electrify: An Optimist's Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future'' (2021). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT University Press. ISBN 9780262046237 (Hardcover edition). ISBN for paperback edition.

References

External links

*
The big switch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffith, Saul 1974 births Living people Australian emigrants to the United States MacArthur Fellows Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Businesspeople from San Francisco People from Sydney Sustainability advocates University of New South Wales alumni University of Sydney alumni Wind power 21st-century American inventors