The team behind autarkize
Our VISION
Our SETTING
We are a group of people who have come together with the will to make a difference. That's why we do things differently and love a challenge. Because for us, it's not a job, it's a calling. We want to generate an impact and have fun doing it. We don't separate work & life, but professional & private. We rely on each other and build our company on the shoulders of all of us. We respect each other and their boundaries. Because what counts for us is the whole person, not just their CV and title. Our motivation makes us people of conviction. We have all made mistakes along the way, learned and gained a lot of experience. This makes us professionals in our aspirations and strengths. Combined, these heterogeneous superpowers give us the power for change.
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Our team
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From vision to product
Our History
Our founder Michel has always advocated for the expansion of renewable energies (e.g., at Munich's municipal utilities or the battery and electric mobility pioneer sonnen). Although he was already at the forefront of renewable energies at sonnen, it became increasingly clear to him with the birth of his first son: climate-neutral electricity alone is not enough to stop or even reverse climate change. In addition to the absolutely necessary avoidance of greenhouse gases, we also need large-scale solutions to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. This is how he came up with the topic. biochar and founded the Kohlekumpels in 2021 together with Sophie, whose implementation strength he had already come to appreciate through their collaboration at sonnen, and four other colleagues. The aim of the Kohlekumpels was to promote the use of biochar to make it economically and ecologically viable for agriculture. For this purpose, foodstuffs produced with biochar were grown in displaced soil, with a price increase and a climate-positive label, thus financing the use of the biochar However, this price increase requires a social change, which was difficult to implement in times of Corona and the Ukraine crisis and the resulting inflation – at the same time, it became increasingly clear that there was a need for a greater spread of biochar It is essential that the costs for the use of biochar sink.
To achieve this, the world needs significantly more pyrolysis plants and, above all, pyrolysis plants that can work with biomass that is as cheap as possible and otherwise poorly utilized. It was precisely at this point that an inventor turned to the coal miners with his knowledge and experience of over 25 years of building and developing pyrolysis plants (he calls them "multi-fuel gasifiers"). "At the age of 85, he felt it was time to pass this knowledge on to a younger generation." After intensive examination of the technology and the pilot plant to date, it was clear to us: this technology has the potential to become another game changer in the field of CDR (carbon dioxide removal)! And so the decision was made very quickly: this technology must be made ready for series production and scaled up because this is how we can really make a difference - that was the birth of autarkize!