<div><strong>The 10-Year Marathon: An Inventor's Mission</strong>
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<div>For the past decade, I've been on a singular mission: to bring simple, safe, and independent energy control to everyday people. The Personal Energy Platform (PEP) isn't a corporate hobby. It has been a 10-year labor of love involving intense R&amp;D, patent filings, late-night engineering, and prototypes built right on my workbench. Along the way, I've listened to hundreds of renters and apartment residents who all say the same thing: "We've been completely left out of the clean energy transition."
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<div>At OTW Energy, I am not trying to build just another tech gadget. I am building a way for everyday people to finally own their energy future. PEP is a compact, apartment-safe, plug-and-play smart battery system designed to sit on a kitchen counter or living room shelf, allowing renters to store cheap grid or balcony-solar power and use it when rates spike or the grid goes dark. The foundation is solid, the patents are secured, and the architecture is ready. Now, I just need your help to cross the final finish line.
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<div><strong>Real Validation, Then a Real Setback</strong>
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<div>This isn't an abstract concept — it's a working reality that has already been tested against the real world. We were named the Sacramento Area Startup World Cup Regional Champion.
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<div><a href="https://youtu.be/oBalD8dnuTk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2024 Startup World Cup Grand Finale Presentation</a>
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<div>On November 14, 2024 CBS Sacramento ran a local news segment on PEP and the shutoff-power problem it solves. The story was picked up and rebroadcast across CBS affiliates in California, Oregon, and Washington over the following days: 800 people accessed our website, I communicated with 95, and 38 joined our waitlist to buy one, and 10 reached out about investing.
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<div><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/sacramento-company-emergency-energy-power-shutoffs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sacramento-area company wants to provide emergency</a> energy during PG&amp;E power shutoffs.
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<div>After months of work with the Community Resource Project's Chief Executive Officer, we received a Letter of Intent on November 15, 2024  for a federally funded pilot to place PEP units in 100 low-income California households, targeted for summer 2025.
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<div><strong>The validation was real. The demand was real. The LOI was signed</strong>.
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<div>Then, in March 2025, our federal grant funding was cut. Overnight, a fully vetted, publicly validated pilot — backed by a signed LOI and real household demand — was wiped out. Not because the technology didn't work. Not because the need wasn't there. Because federal funding priorities shifted, and we were caught in it.
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<div>I was devastated. Throughout 2025, I wondered if an independent inventor could truly survive in this landscape. I had to ask myself the hardest question a founder can face: "Do I give up, or do I carry on?"
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<div>With the help of my family, friends, and the people who believe in PEP, I chose to carry on. I decided to take this straight to the community.
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<div>I've poured my personal finances into this and worked grueling side jobs — including my current role as a First Responder Drone Pilot — to keep the lights on in the lab. But I need to get this out of the lab and into communities where PEP can make a difference. I need to focus 100% of my time on a PEP Pilot sprint without distractions.
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<div><strong>Why GoFundMe?</strong>
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<div><strong>This is not a pre-order. This is not an investment.</strong>
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<div>You won't receive a product, and you won't own any part of the company. This is a donation to help get PEP into the hands of the renters who need it. Your support funds the final push — outreach, partnerships, and the work required to bring this technology out of the lab and into real homes.
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<div><strong>Why $15,000? Breaking Down the Sprint Budget</strong>
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<div>We are in the absolute final mile.
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<div>To get PEP manufactured and into renters' apartments, I need to share PEP’s story directly with the public and private groups currently working to help building owners with decarbonization-electrification, and to renters seeking lower utility bills and protection from power outages.
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<div>A PEP Pilot Plan is the exact tool needed to show housing advocates and community leaders that this technology is ready for real-world deployment.
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<div>Every dollar raised here goes directly into the Sprint to fund this 6-month push:
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<li><strong>Pilot Vendor Outreach</strong>: (~$4,000): Gain commitments from supply-chain vendors for Pilot battery cells, PCBs, manufacturing, and local technical support.
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<li><strong>Pilot Project</strong>: (~$5,000): Gain commitments from public and private stakeholders to support the Plan and to commit funds for a Pilot rollout.
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<li><strong>Dedicated Time to Connect:</strong> (~$6,000): I'm asking for help with expenses — no side jobs, no distractions.
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<div><strong>Taking the Solution Directly to the Streets</strong>
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<div>This campaign will fund vital pilot partner development, including face-to-face meetings with public agencies, community groups, housing leaders, and renter advocates in New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Jersey.
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<div>These states have passed decarbonization-electrification mandates and allocated public funds to transition older apartment buildings from legacy gas to modern electric cooking, but their aging building electrical grids can't handle the added power demands.
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<div>PEP is the missing link that can solve this bottleneck for thousands of families, without landlords having to tear open walls.
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<div>Additionally, I will be meeting with proponents of Balcony Solar. Renters are winning the legal right to put solar panels on their apartment balconies — but they have no safe, apartment-friendly way to store and efficiently manage that power. PEP is built precisely for this moment.
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<div>The Balcony Solar movement is expanding across the US, 10 states have passed supportive legislation.
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<div><strong>What Your Donation Powers</strong>
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<div>When you support this campaign, you aren't just funding a project — you're joining a movement for true energy equity:
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<li><strong>Energy Freedom:</strong> Giving apartment residents the power to break free from skyrocketing utility rates.
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<li><strong>Commercial Grade Safety</strong>: Bringing industrial, reliable emergency backup power right to a kitchen counter or living room during grid blackouts.
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<li><strong>Fairness for Renters</strong>: Making sure the economic and safety benefits of clean energy belong to everyone, not just people who own a roof.
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<div>Even a $50 donation buys an extra day of focused partner outreach or another PEP Pilot conversation with a rental housing or a decarbonization advocate.
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<div>I'm 10 yards from the finish line of a 10-year race. Help me get PEP off the workbench and into the world, where it can start benefiting the people who need it most.
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<div>Thank you for your belief, your support, and your donation.
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<div>Bob Guimarin
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<div>Founder, OTW Energy
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<div><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobguimarin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Connect with me on LinkedIn</a>
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<div>US Patent # 11,791,636
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<div>WFH Desktop PEP prototype supporting a laptop, monitor, phone, smart speaker, and tablet.
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<div>Here's a video of our early PEP prototype test powering AC and DC devices, and controlling PEP device ports via our mobile app.
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<div><a href="https://youtu.be/INOjANknnJc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><a href="https://youtu.be/INOjANknnJc" target="_blank" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://youtu.be/INOjANknnJc</a></a>
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<div>PEP was designed to match your lifestyle, this PEP prototype is supporting a fridge, microwave, smart speaker, and phone charger in a tight kitchen space in a Vancouver Flat.
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<div>Building PEP prototype battery packs at the kitchen table.
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Help Bring the Personal Energy Platform to Life!

Help Bring the Personal Energy Platform to Life!

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