Frederic Pouyot - Bio
Frederic's involvement with sustainable buildings and the professional renewable energy sector goes back three decades ago. Starting in 1984, he worked as a consultant on feasibility studies for the solarization of public pools for a branch of the French "Conseil d'Architecture, d'Urbanisme et d'Environnement". In 1985, he planned and managed the largest solar energy campaign where he was co-sponsored by the French government and the French solar industry association. Following that he worked for the leading French manufacturer of Solar Energy (Solaire du Verdon, division of Solaire de France). He was then contracted by the "Agence Française pour la Maîtrise de l’Énergie" as a residential and commercial energy auditor. He was president of the non-profit association Solar Service International from 1987 to 1988, became president of The Green Power Network in 2001, and then started - GPEKS Constructions in 2002 (GPEKS is an acronym for Green Projects Environment Knowledge Solutions). As the principal of GPEKS, he has initiated and managed many dozens of renewable energy feasibility studies and projects since the creation of this company, and has been very active on projects in developing countries on 4 continents, initially Africa where GPEKS was for its first 5 years, the exclusive distributor of the world's largest solar energy company in solar air heating. GPEKS had an exclusive agent in Kenya for those three years and focused its efforts on the Solar drying sector where it dealt extensively with the Kenya Tea Development Agency and did detailed studies on Energy Efficiency combined with various forms of solar and submitted funding request to various agencies (in Canada: CIDA Inc) and with German Cooperation Agency (GTZ). Both sides of Frederic's family has had deep ties to Africa for the last three generations (and in each of the generations), and his family has been involved in technical training, trade development, and humanitarian aid (building/managing orphanages and water wells).
Frederic has worked extensively with the Canadian Solar Industry Association (CanSIA, now merged into Canadian Renewable Energy Association) on various outreach and technical education projects. He was commissioned by CanSIA to co-develop the Canadian Certification curriculum for Installers of Solar Water Heating equipment, and developed the first set of exams for that certification.
Frederic ran as Federal Green Party Candidate in 2008 and received more votes than the deputy leader of the party in the Province and where he scored better than any other Candidate. Frederic was the Green Party strategist on three National Television debates (CPAC) at the 2008 elections and was featured on national Radio and most of Canada's capital Newspapers.
Frederic is passionate about making things work which is the reason why he founded in 1990, and headed for over a decade the consulting firm "Effective Computing & Consulting" where has provided consulting and training services thousands of public servants dispersed through most Canadian Government Departments (including to the secret services!) and has had a key role in the design of the Internet Government Payments and Deposits (iGPAD) System. Frederic was also in the 1990s on the board of directors of the Canadian Home Based Business Association.
Frederic chaired Solar & Sustainable Energy Society of Canada Inc. (SESCI), the national organization that promotes solar and sustainable energy in Canada for 3 two-year terms, and headed and managed 3 national SESCI conferences (Calgary, Fredericton and Ottawa). While SESCI President, he undertook to have the organization extensively review and formalize into a report a new strategic and business plan which re-focused on outreach through local chapter events versus national conferences which he argued can be done more effectively by industry associations than a grass roots organization. He wrote a number of policy articles (i.e. "Ten features of successful solar policies", and articles on financing energy retrofits through property taxes using the US PACE model, etc.) as well as drafted a Green Energy Act for Quebec which was proposed to the Green Party of Canada. While SESCI President, Frederic also held the position of Small Section Representative (responsible for Canada and for 41 other countries) and during his mandate, was one of the 32 Directors on the Board of the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) where he developed and submitted an international framework for collaboration between the world's Solar energy associations. Frederic has been a guest speaker at over a dozen high profile conferences in Canada and around the globe. He was the main speaker at the Asia Pacific conference on evaluating risks for Renewable Energy projects (i.e. Thailand, 2008) and the expert faculty trainer at various workshops in Asia such as workshops on Hydro project feasibility & financing (Malaysia, 2013), and Solar project feasibility & financing (Singapore, 2014).
Since 2024, Frederic is the Academic Dean of Graduate studies for the International Real Estate Development Institute which offers an Executive Masters in Real Estate Development. Frederic is a co-founder and now President of E3Habitat, the NGO that acts for the global adoption of the most Ecological (healthy & comfortable), Environmental (low energy & CO2) and above all, Economical (to build and operate) earth constructions.
Frederic has a multi-disciplinary university background in Business (MBA level - University of Limoges, France), Engineering & Architecture (Energy & Solar Technologies - University of Perpignan, France), International Trade (University of Nice - Institute for Export) and Public Policies (Certificate of the European Institute for High International Studies based in Brussels, Belgium), Information Technology (Microsoft Certified Solution Developer and trainer - the highest level of certification from Microsoft), Project Management (Learning Tree International - Certified Project Management Professional and Certified IT Management Professional; on the last stretch of the Masters in Project Management program at Universite du Quebec). He is also a Comptia certified Technical Trainer, ColdFusion certified technical trainer, Productivity Point International Certified Trainer, top leading expert RETScreen International Certified Trainer Clean Energy Institute Professional Certification in Project Analysis for 10 technological areas (Solar, Wind, Hydro, Geothermal, Bio-energy, CHP...). Since the 2010s, Frederic started to focused on real estate, complete the Trump Institute Real Estate Curriculum, completed a 2 year-8 course program with America's most recognized Real Estate Investment training organization, Legacy Education Alliance (affiliated with Robert Kyosaki Rich Dad Education). Frederic is since 2017 a lifetime member of JT Foxx organization (JT claims to be the World #1 wealth coach), and since 2024, an Elite Plus Member of WealthGenius, the Canadian Real Estate Investment organization focused on multi-family real estate and the Buy Rent Refinance and Repeat (BRRR) Model.
Frederic completed the training of Level 1 coaching in Volleyball and downhill skiing, and has also been formally trained to teach Ballroom Dance (his focus is Latin dance). Frederic is fluent in the three dominant languages in Africa and the American continents.
To keep up to date in the Clean Tech Field (Real Estate Development & Investment, Construction & Infrastructure, Renewable Energy/Energy Efficiency Technologies, Project Finance, Policies..), Frederic spends about 5 hours a week reading targeted newsletters and has been attending each year on average 3 major key international conferences for more well over a decade.
In his spare time, Frederic meditates, practices many sports (winter sports, volleyball, martial arts, and Latin dance expert amongst other things) and also likes to put his computer programming skills to use and write applications such as the EVScreen, and possibly some of the most advanced tools available in the world for the economic evaluation for Electric Vehicles. He also has a long track record of actively serving on the board of directors of three non-profits and charities, and is involved with the Unity movement which promotes a positive path for spiritual living.
For more information on Frederic, check his LinkedIn profile or detailed bio here, Facebook or Youtube pages.