Need for Power

He is 68 years old, but age is no hindrance for Bormann, who is still professionally active in Africa and Asia as a recruiter, facilitator and project manager through his one-man firm, Pyramids Consulting Services.

Alongside big business players, Bormann operates in the least developed regions of the world. He has some clear convictions about the reasons for economic underdevelopment and poor living standards. One problem is the woeful lack of electrical energy.

Globally, some two billion people live without electricity, which means waves of migrants seeking a better life are either fleeing to crowded urban centers or the world's richest countries in spite of the risks involved.

The availability of energy resources is the key to development and raising living standards in the developing world. Bormann is thinking not so much about providing consumers with household amenities such as radios, televisions or refrigerators, but with water pumps, commercial machinery and technology to transform the underdeveloped local economies.

Hybrid generator key to development

At the core of such economic development is a hybrid generator, or so-called combined heat and power unit (CHP).

Unlike an electrical generator, the hybrid system permits the industrial heat loss to be transformed into a cold storage facility through an absorption filter. This makes refrigeration possible, which means that certain local industries in coastal areas, such as fisheries, can flourish.

The CHP would be supplemented by solar modules and windmills, in which all components of the network are capable of functioning in tandem.

Hybrid systems are technically complicated to build, which is why highly qualified technical personnel need to be on location to service and maintain the machinery once a CHP is installed.

Bormann is convinced that multinational firms doing business in the developing world can profit from CHP technology. His motto: When the market doesn't come to us, we go to them.