Aesop Institute began in 1973 with a founding grant from the late Henry Dakin of San Francisco.
Its mission is to catalyze breakthrough possibilities in Energy, Economics and Education.
From its inception Aesop Institute has been seeking to discover and disseminate information regarding breakthrough energy technologies that can help to more rapidly supersede fossil fuels.
Early work in energy included contracts with the Economic Development Administration (U.S. Department of Commerce) to evaluate wind energy Tornado Towers with the cooperation of NASA.
The Institute, soon afterwards, spun out a commercial affiliate, SunWind Ltd., which developed a wind-electric hybrid vehicle, capable of freeway travel. SunWind also had the exclusive license from NASA for the Hollow-Fiber Fuel Cell, the most efficient fuel cell developed at the time.
SunWind was replaced, in 1984, by a second commercial affiliate, Magnetic Power Inc. (MPI), when it became clear that solar and wind energy, combined with Hydrogen fuel cells, would not prove practical to replace fossil fuels for transportation.
Magnetic Power Inc. was developing solid-state magnetic generators that run on ambient energy. MPI added a subsidiary, Room Temperature Superconductors Inc. (RTS) in 1993, to develop Ultraconductors™, the world’s first room temperature superconductors. The assets of MPI and RTS are being acquired by Chava Energy in a transaction not yet completed.
AESOP Institute work in economics includes a Human Investment Tax Credit program (also developed for the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce). Aimed at generating 6 million jobs, and assisting with the creation of 4 million small firms, the Jobs Tax Credit of 1977, which resulted in 2 million jobs, included watered-down versions of the suggested incentives. The work has been updated. With Congressional approval it could dramatically reduce unemployment.
The Institute is also involved in developing the world-wide potential of The Just Third Way Movement which seeks implementation of the Capital Homestead Act in the USA. This would provide Second Incomes to almost everyone, independent of jobs and savings. It opens a new path, beyond capitalism and socialism, which can accelerate affluence and reduce poverty for most of the population of the planet.
AESOP Institute is devoted to advancing breakthrough solutions to the world’s most difficult problems - with a focus on energy and economics.