Team Proficiencies

The award-winning RES team brings decades of practical experience to bear on opportunities and challenges facing clients. This entrepreneurial background includes manufacturing, agricultural production, service sector industries, business start-ups, value-added ventures, and business management coaching. The RES team includes expertise in Financial Management and records, Business Planning, Procurement, Workforce Training, Marketing, Engineering, Feasibility Assessment, and inter-agency collaborations.  RES has strong expertise in small and medium sized business and agri-business development in the U.S. and internationally for private-sector, municipal, non-profit and governmental clients.  

Renewable Energy –

Renewable energy offers exciting potential to achieve ecological and production goals. On a large scale, the energy economy creates jobs and businesses. At the community level it can connect sustainable resource management with livelihood and service objectives. At the farm level, hydro, solar, wind and biomass can be the way to reach production or performance goals.  The RES team includes professionals with hands-on experience in solar, hydro, biomass, wind, bio-digestion, non-electric technologies,and construction/installation expertise.

Economic and Resource Assessments –

Taking a project from ideas to implementation demands interdisciplinary strengths. RES employs resource and financial assessments by our environmental and business economists, market research if applicable, and best-fit technology identification. Our engineers include electrical, mechanical and structural experts, who work with our project planners to achieve the desired product or installation.  Pre-feasibility evaluations often provide go/no go decision materials which save clients both time and money.  Micro-finance a

nd investment materials may round out an assessment package for a client.

Project Planning, Implementation, Management -

Project opportunities have ranged from utility-scale renewable energy to value-added agricultural collaborations to community-based natural resource management. No project is too big or too small, with team member designing efficient, effective and logical approaches to accessing opportunities and mitigating challenges.   

News

RES ADDS KAZAKHSTAN TEAM MEMBERS

(4/12/10) RES recently announced the addition of  two new Team members to the Kazakhstan office: Madina Bakhadyrkyzy (pictured) will be an RES Project Coordinator based in Taraz, and Dastan Ramakulov who will be based in Almaty.  Medina and Dastan will be supporting and expanding RES/Kaz capacity to satisfy country-wide demands for solar-powered cold storage facilities, home solar electric systems and water development assistance using Brumby and Grundfos pumps.  

BEN HENSON HONORED AS ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR -                                        

Ben Henson, of Renewable Energy Solutions, was honored as the 2009 Wallowa County Entrepreneur of the Year by the Northeastern Oregon Economic Development District (NEOEDD).  The award was presented January 28, in Enterprise.

The Entrepreneur of the Year Award was developed by the NEOEDD to recognize an individual who demonstrates excellent entrepreneurial skills and proven ability to create new opportunities and ventures. Those considered for the award must also have businesses which have undergone rapid expansion in the last two years. These accomplishments are consistent with the District's goals of "Growing businesses - strengthening communities."

Ben was in transit from Amsterdam at the time of the presentation, so his award was accepted by his wife, Georgene, who is also active in the company. 

North Central Idaho Grazing Conference, January 5, 2010 -

RES founder, Ben Henson, joined University and USDA professionals as presenters at the 6th Annual educational meeting for livestock operators sponsored by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Soil Conservation Commission, University of Idaho, and Idaho Association of Soil Conservation Districts Division II. Ben's presentation introduced renewable energy applications for farms and ranches as well as financial assistance

available at the federal and state level for projects. Attendance at the conference was 127 producers from a three-state area.

Tuskegee Valley Power Corporation - Alabama

RES was recently contacted by Alabama-based TVPC to prepare a Technical Brief on the emerging "energy economy" which is driving jobs, business and economic benefits in rural areas.  TVPC leaders are exploring renewable energy as a means of saving money and boosting economic multipliers in the area.

Energy Efficiency Workshop for Farms, Ranches and Business - Dec. 10, 2009 

More than 30 farmers, ranchers and business owners attended an Energy Efficiency Workshop sponsored by RES with support from the Energy Trust of Oregon, USDA Rural Development, and Cascade Energy Engineering. The take home message was simple: financial and technical resources are available for those interested in improving the energy efficiency of their agricultural or business operations.

Ben Henson

An ecologist by training, RES founder, Ben Henson, has over two decades of business development experience, focusing on environmentally sound natural resource based enterprises, community based natural resource management, and renewable energy. His strong analytical skill set and business background combine with a commitment to holistic project development to benefit individuals and communities. As well as successful businesses and projects across the U.S., his work has taken him to Europe, the Pacific Rim, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Central Asia.

At RES, his successful business background has fused with a genuine interest in helping people to develop their ideas into realities within the context of both conservation and utilization of natural resources.  A well respected advocate for sustainable renewable energy, Henson is active at the national, state and local level, while the company's international activity has most recently taken he and team members to New Zealand,Kazakhstan, Malawi and Chile.