About Us

Earth Day: Company formed​

It seemed fitting to set the company anniversary on Earth Day.

Founder Derek Cowburn saw the low power of LED and motor controller electronics would transform the industry.  The 120 year old AC power delivery infrastructure was now the weak link hindering broad adoption of Smart Energy for Everyone.

"Dear Mom & Dad, I rewired your new home"

His parents were building a new home in Noblesville, Indiana.  As their "retirement home" he designed it to be Net Zero Electricity with only 4.8kW of solar panels, geothermal HVAC, and PassiveHouse Principles to keep them comfortable, healthy, and with low (or no) energy bills.  Even through it looks like every other home in the neighborhood, he wanted them to feel safe through any Utility interruptions caused by storms.

Everything feels fine until the lights go out.

His father asked "Should be bi-wire it for AC too? Just in case we want to go back."

Derek replied "The world is not going back."  A story his Dad loved repeating for many years as it was clear the world was never going back.

Legacy product released

Developed and released in just 3 months, the "Proof-of-Concept" was made to demonstrate the modular architecture solves all the adoption and market challenges.

It would go on to be installed in the luxury homes of celebrities, a hamlet in the Himalayas, bus stops and luxury hotels in Mexico, apartment buildings, health centers, offices, schools, and numerous homes.  Legacy proved true to it's name and most are still quietly in operation today, without any service contracts.

LibRE "L2-" product, Shenzhen Big-Leagues

Requiring more runway, a few minor changes were made to the Legacy product to lower costs and improve supply chain  components availability.  LumenCache was accepted into the largest hardware accelerator in the Electronics Manufacturing Capitol of the world: Shenzhen, China.  The unique DC LumenCache platform got the LumenCache a seat on the Industry Advisory Board of a 5 year US/China Joint Venture program between the US Department of Energy and China's Ministry of Housing and Urban & Rural Development. Their mission: Measure how much better is DC over AC power. Adopting the manufacturing and technology miracle of Shenzhen prepared the backbone of LumenCache as a seasoned product manufacturing company.

COVID Lockdowns, Advanced Degrees

With over $2.1M of Legacy and LibRE in service around the world for nearly 9 years, there was a LOT of data collected, experience gained, and learning what works and what doesn't.

Then COVID hit.

Stuck in China and operating on a razor thin survival budget, Derek took advantage of the graduate EE courses from Stanford and MIT.  He learned the advanced design CAD tools to hyper-speed development of the Generation 2 product, completing the difficult Research and Discovery phase for the final design optimizations needed for perfect Product-Market Fit.  Revenue from some large projects and timely investment helped "keep the lights on" and momentum going.  The LED market also stabilized somewhat during this time, and builders became open to DC and "Cat5 Lighting".

Gen2 Prototypes Created

Most importantly, the Gen2 product solved the giant Adoption Gap by being attractive to the needs of Builders first: Schedule (install speed), Cost, and Quality (reliability). This elegant and simple solution then transforms into the most advanced open and future-proof platform in the world.  The industrial design was nailed down and played with for several months while the last few trade secret electronics magic was tested and optimized for manufacturing. DFMA doesn't mean "Design For Manufacturing and Assembly" to us.  It means "Designed For Manufacturing Awesomeness".  This ensured we can produce millions of systems at a paradigm-busting price point, with healthy margins, and grow indefinitely without the risk of funding sources seeking a disruptive "Exit". (Never jump out of a perfectly good airplane--it can take you to many beautiful destinations).

ReNetA, the first "Gen2" product

It was critical to get the interface between the modules perfect.  This is what creates the "future-proof" feature and must stand up to the test of time lasting for decades, or as long as you plan on being in a home.  With those interfaces agonizingly scrutinized, and with all the future prediction skills from decades of experience from experts around the world, ReNetA was born.

ReNetA gets its name from the building block of DNA (RNA) combined with Renewable Network "A".  It is the first of several brand products from LumenCache that leverage our patented modular architecture.

And this is just the beginning!