Dan Schnitzer has been passionate about renewable energy since the eighth grade, when he discovered he could make clean fuel from apple peels using his grandma's pressure cooker. Later, he learned that lack of access to energy is a trap that keeps people in poverty. He vowed to try to solve a huge problem: In developing countries, as much as half the population has no reliable source of electricity. He founded his company, SparkMeter, to try to fill that crying need. In 2021, Fast Company named SparkMeter the most innovative company in energy.