Kevin Kung
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Takachar
Kevin joins Breakthrough Energy’s Innovator Fellows program from Takachar in Vancouver, Canada. He combines his background in combustion engineering and physics with his professional expertise in engineering design to make bioproduct processing and consumption more affordable and efficient. At Takachar, Kevin and his team have developed the first portable device for converting natural waste into bioproducts in even the most hard-to-access and underserved rural agricultural communities.
Unlike traditional biomass process technologies that are large-scale, centralized, and capital-intensive, Takachar’s low-cost, portable solution can attach to tractors and pick-up trucks to process crop and forest debris into biofuels, fertilizers, and other valuable products onsite. With the support of the Fellows program, Takachar will work to de-risk the technology and deploy field-scale prototypes with diverse communities to demonstrate usability and impact in the target markets.
Originally from Taiwan, Kevin earned a Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Princeton University and a Master of Philosophy in Physics at the University of Cambridge. He completed a Master of Science in Biological Engineering and a Doctor of Philosophy in Biofuels and Renewable Energy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to his studies, he spent six years conducting engineering design in resource-constrained settings, including borehole restoration in Uganda, interlocking stabilized construction materials in Ghana, and renewable energy systems in Kenya and India.
Q&A
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I had wanted to be a meteorologist, and that was why I chose to study physics.
What is your favorite word and why?
“Why” is my favorite word -when asked in the right way, it is the gateway towards discovery and greater understanding. And sometimes you can ask it multiple times in a row to really get to the deep of things.
What’s a fun fact about yourself?
I love collecting coins from different countries. If you recently traveled to an exotic destination and want to bring me a unique souvenir, local coins would be the surest bet.
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