Hire Brilliant & Powerful Lawyers!

 

Congrats to Patrick M. Ryan (see also https://buff.ly/3nMXJYW & #Superlawyers https://bit.ly/2SMWtqu) & the entire Bartko Zankel Bunzel & Miller (https://buff.ly/3iUK4eM) team for Patrick being named one of the top trade secrets #lawyers in California (article https://bit.ly/30Z9Dp3).

Having been an #entrepreneur & company #founder for 3 decades I’ve learned that having a #brilliant & #powerful #legalteam can make the difference between #success & #failure. Presently, I’m #fortunate that our current legal team includes Patrick M. Ryan, who earlier this month was named a Top Trade Secret Lawyer of 2020 (https://bit.ly/30Z9Dp3). This #prestigious #award is well deserved, after Mr. Ryan won an $845 Million #verdict for the largest #computer #lithography maker in the world, and had one of the largest #tradesecrets #victories in U.S. history (see https://bit.ly/2GTE6h3 & https://bit.ly/2GYWxkq). He's also lead #counsel for numerous other major companies for IP, trade secrets, commercial & #antitrust cases. Patrick & Stephen Steinberg (https://bit.ly/33SI1nt) of Bartko are representing me & some of my companies in a complex #IP #dispute & investigation, and I could not be more #impressed with their work. I'll keep you posted...

Troy Helming in the news

For those who have been asking me, or who are wondering, if I've been featured in any news articles over the years, the answer is yes, in > 1,000 articles. 

Many of the articles were pre-Internet (e.g. my piece featured prominently in Bank News Magazine entitled Wind Farm Financing: Don't Get Blown Away in the early days of the US wind power industry [circa 2002] was picked up by many other publications) or are not available - or no longer available - electronically. 

Most of the articles are favorable in nature, but a few are not (as the saying goes, any news is good news, I guess!). If you're paying attention to my story or career, you know that I have been a target more than once of smear campaigns by fossil fuel interests. This is due to my lifelong fight against fossil fuel interests who push dirty, polluting & health-damaging fuels on us despite the availability of abundant cleaner, cheaper, renewable energy. That has also included battles with state regulators in Kansas (2002) & Missouri (2005) who were under the influence (via political donations, etc.) of fossil fuel companies & lobbyists. This is why I titled my 2005 book The Clean Power Revolution...it is, in fact, a war. I have fought many battles in this revolution, and have the "scar tissue" to prove it in the form of dirty tricks, smear campaigns in the media, lawsuits (I've been both a plaintiff and a defendant over the years in dozens of lawsuits & disputes), and even death threats against my life...

...all in the name of fighting for clean, renewable energy since the 1980s.

Nevertheless, this is a sampling of some of the articles featuring me & some of the various companies where I was the founder. Most of the companies I've founded have done fairly well, some of them very well (Kansas Wind Power/TradeWind Energy and Pristine Sun), and some have not done well. The most common struggles that my companies endured (from which I've learned lots of hard lessons!):

1. Insufficient capital (or the wrong type of capital such as debt vs equity)
2. Opportunity creep (e.g. "The wolf that chases more than one rabbit goes hungry")
3. Rapid growth (growing too fast strains resources, causes mistakes, and soaks up available capital)
4. Over-reliance on government incentives (they can disappear when political winds shift)

Kansas Wind Power (which became Tradewind Energy)

1. Note: I founded Kansas Wind Power in the 1990s as a DBA of one of my other companies, formed the company formally in 2001 in Kansas, and sold most of my interest in the company in 2003 to focus on green tags (renewable energy certificates) and smaller wind & solar projects of which I could retain ownership. I also was a strong & public figure fighting coal plants, and some of the customers of KWP were coal-centric utilities. The company was recapitalized and renamed (to Tradewind Energy) in 2004, when I left and was no longer the CEO. Prior to my departure, under my leadership the company developed nearly a dozen wind farms, several of which were fully or nearly fully developed before I left (including the Smoky Hills & Caney River wind farms). 
2. 2002 11 21 McCook Gazette - Company considers wind farm
3. 2002 12 16 Power Grid International - CTC signs cooperative initiative with Kansas Wind Power to use composite transmission cables and tower systems in Kansas
4. 2003 02 14 Kansas City Business Journal - Developer: Tax bill threatens to blow away wind power
5. 2003 02 18 Renewable Energy World - Kansas Wind Power Goal: 500 MW of Wind Projects
1. Here is a sample project that was developed 100% under my watch while CEO:
2. 
   

   

   Smoky Hills Wind Farm $500 Million 250 MW- developed by Kansas Wind Power LLC, Troy Helming, Founder & CEO
   

6. 2003 03 05 Sustainable Business Magazine - Wind Power Financing: Don't Get Blown Away and here
7. 2003 03 24 Renewable Energy World - Kansas Wind Power Develops Municipal Program (see Press Release here)
8. 2003 12 01 High Plains Journal - Kansas Wind Power, Black & Veatch partner for wind energy study
9. 2004 01 09 Lawrence Journal-World - Kansans weigh wind energy merits
10. 2004 01 11 Presentation to the San Francisco Tesla Society - Distributed Wind Generation: Reducing Dependence on Fossil Fuels
11. 2005 12 20 Investors Hub - Kansas Wind Power allies with California tower builder
12. 2005 12 20 Investors Hub - Kansas Wind Power and Padoma Wind Power Form Joint VentureTo Develop 500 MW Of Wind Energy Projects

Pristine Sun Corp (and affiliates)

1. 2012 05 12 Redding Record Searchlight - Work due to begin on small solar projects in Tehama County
1. 
   

   

   Stroing Solar Farm, 2014, Developed by Pristine Sun LLC, Troy Helming CEO & Founder
   

2. 2012 10 29 NS Energy - Lightway Solar to deploy solar modules across California for Pristine Sun 
1. Reuters 
2. GreenTechLead
3. 2013 03 06 Solar Plaza Journal - Pristine Sun Gets Panasonic Loan for 50MW California Solar Projects; Crowdfunding for 6MW 
1. This article was syndicated across nearly 3,000 news outlets! It reprsented a $200 Million funding commitment from Panasonic plus a $25 Million funding commitment from Mosaic (solar farm costs were ~$4 Million per MW at the time)
2. 2013 03 08 Solar Daily - Panasonic and Pristine Sun To Build 50MW of California Solar Farms & in Japanese here
4. 2013 03 07 Clean Energy Authority - Mosaic partners with Pristine Sun to fund 6 MWs of solar
5. 2013 03 12 Business Wire (a Berkshire Hathaway company) Upsolar’s Smart Modules Selected by Pristine Sun for 10 MW Deal 
1. Solar + Power Management
2. 2013 03 12 Smart Modules will power California solar farms
3. 2013 03 13 PV Tech - Pristine Sun and Mosaic agree first utility-scale crowd funding deal
6. 2013 09 01 Solar Reviews - PG&E Signs PPA With Mosaic Offering Solar Investors a 5.5% Return
7. 2013 12 09 ReneSola to Provide 6.8MW of its Virtus II Modules for Multi-Array Project in California 
1. AltEnergyMag
8. 2014 09 12 Taylor English Duma LLP law firm blog of Jonathan Wilson - Our Clients Do Cartwheels
9. 2014 12 03 Del Rio News Herald - City waiting to hear from air force base before making decision on solar farm
10. 2015 01 10 Winston Salem Journal - Solar power arrives in Cumberland Count: 10 projects are in development or planning stages
11. 2015 02 26 North Bay Business Journal - Potential is seen in floating solar for wine and Ag
12. 2015 03 11 Greentech Media - Sonoma County Is Building the Largest Floating Solar Project in the US: Sonoma Clean Power says the 12.5-megawatt project will be able to serve 3,000 homes 
1. The Climate Center
2. Note: Pristine Sun's floating solar projects were sold in late 2015 to Sky Solar & then to Industry Capital. After that time Pristine Sun had no further obligations or opportunities with respect to these projects. These sales were unfortunate, but necessary due to the Renesola breach of contract mentioned below.
3. Carmichael Water District references to my company's project in Sonoma County.
4. 
   

   

   Floatorack system - developed & patented by Troy Helming, CEO & Founder, Pristine Sun Corporation
   

   
   

   

   Floatorack Corp, version 1.0, developed & patented by Troy Helming, CEO & Founder

13. 2015 03 12 Think Progress - California Will Soon Be Home To The Country’s Largest Floating Solar Array
14. 2015 03 14 Clean Technica - Huge Floating Solar Project Being Developed In California — To Be Largest In US Once Completed
15. 2015 05 15 AiChE - Floating Solar Power Online from Japan to California
16. 2015 06 23 Glenn County Transcript - Glenn County Planning Commission approves solar farm
17. 2015 06 24 Will 'floatovoltaics' become the next big thing? 
1. Just Means
18. 2015 08 05 Bloomberg - ReneSola (NYSE:SOL) and Pristine Sun to Form Joint Venture to Accelerate U.S. Project Development 
1. This 300 MW JV represented a $600 Million funding commitment from publicly traded Renesola. Our solar farm installation costs dropped by a whopping 50% cost redution in just 2.5 years since early 2013 to ~$2 Million per MW.
2. Whitehall & Company [Pristine Sun's investment banker, which failed to raise equity for the company and instead was only able to arrange this Joint Venture] 
3. Global Power Journal 
4. Renesola (NYSE: SOL) 
5. Market Screener 
6. Smarter Analyst
7. Note: this Joint Venture with Chinese company Renesola failed. Pristine Sun sued Renesola due to breach of contract. After ~18 months, the parties settled (it was favorable for Pristine Sun & paid off nearly all of its lenders). But 18 months of litigation, being "cut off" by our lender, not having a strong equity investor backing us & having our best projects tied up in court forced Pristine Sun to lay off all of its 78 employees. Pristine Sun should have gone bankrupt (along with countless other solar developers during this tumultuous time in the "solar coaster" period of the solar industry). But I worked very hard to avoid bankruptcy, pay off all of the secured creditors, sold off all or portions of tens of millions of dollars of assets (some of which are still partially owned by the company) to pay off creditors, and eventually resumed limited operations. 
19. 2015 09 17 North American Clean Energy - Pristine Sun CEO Troy Helming Offers Comment on Speech by Vice-President Joe Biden
20. 2015 11 06 Solar Builder - Pristine Sun hires former Deutsche Bank director as new CFO
1. Power & Energy Solutions - Power & Energy Solutions
2. 2019 07 05 - CFO Moves - Doran Hole becomes CFO of Ameresco. Prior to that, he was CFO at Pristine Sun LLC and then CFO of publicly traded Renesola (NYSE: SOL).
21. 2015 12 04 PR Newswire - Pristine Sun receives funding from U.S. and Israeli energy departments to grow floating solar efforts internationally: Bay Area solar company currently building the largest floating solar project in the United States
1.  RE News
22. 2015 12 06 Power Technology magazine - Pristine Sun and Solaris-Synergy team wins funds for floating solar technology research
23. 2016 02 29 Axial - How One CEO Balances a Social Mission with Aggressive Growth
24. 2016 06 05 VT Digger - Delays jeopardize Brattleboro landfill solar project
1.  Note: This project was sold to Sky Solar after Pristine Sun was forced to file a lawsuit (counter-suit) against Renesola due to the aforementioned breach of their agreement to fund our projects.
25. 2016 07 23 Middle Market Executive Podcast - Podcast: Sinking Roots Beneath a Scalable Sun, Troy Helming, CEO, Pristine Sun
26. 2017 05 13 NPR - KQED Radio station - Are Floating Solar Panels Energy's New Frontier?
1. Note: I've been interviewed on various NPR (National Public Radio) radio stations & television stations >30 times in my clean energy career.
27. 2017 05 19 Baltimore Sun - Floating solar would be a San Diego County first & The Morning Call
28. 2017 07 05 NRDC - Floating Solar Farms Catch on in California: Sonoma and San Diego test the waters for a new source of renewable energy
29. 2017 08 22 Valley Media Works - Sky Park Community Solar Garden
30. 2017 08 23 Clean Power Exchange - Floating Solar Power: New Frontier for Green-Leaning Water Utilities
31. 2017 11 21 ETFStore Podcast: Pristine Sun CEO Troy Helming Goes In-Depth on Solar Power
32. Note: there are thousands of additional articles in thousands of other publications naming Troy Helming and/or Pristine Sun. This list is not meant to be comprehensive, but is a sampling of the original articles and key media coverage naming Mr. Helming.

Misc

1. 2005 08 04 My book The Clean Power Revolution was published! 1st edition on Book Depository, 2nd edition at Barnes & Noble & Amazon (Kindle electronic format & Paperback format).
   
2. 2006 03 03 - My company was responsible for the gloable premier & launch of the film The Great Warming, a documentary starring narrators Keanu Reeves & Alanis Morissette, in dozens of theaters & churches nationwide. United Nations Environmental Program 2006 archives at Yale University. 
    

   

   
3. 
   
4. Keanu Reeves Wiki
5. 2014 11 11 Lightning Motorcycle - World's 1st Electric Street Legal SUPERBIKE Delivered! & PRWeb
6. 
1. 2012 08 26 Coroflot Blog by Glenn Kerr
2. 2014 11 13 Motorcycle.com - Lightning Delivers First LS-218 Electric Superbike
3. 2014 11 17 Motorbike Writer - Electric Lightning Motorcycle zaps market
4. 2014 11 23 MotorCyclist Online - Electric News: Lightning Motorcycles Delivers its First Production Bike
7. 2015 06 11 I was asked to be an industry SME (Subject Matter Expert) in remarks to the city of Palo Alto for their CLEAN program. See Palo Alto continues effort to spur local renewable generation.
1. Note: I have been an expert witness or SME at dozens of meetings & hearings across the nation to support clean energy development & acceptance. In at least 3 cases, I have been instrumental in getting new laws passed to facilitate the development of solar or wind energy projects. I helped to drive the effort to create new or revised statutes, ordinances or laws allowing solar farms, including the City of Palo Alto, CA, Kings County CA, Butte County CA (twice, the 2nd time as shown here), and other counties (I've testified in > 20 counties advocating for solar). And I advocated heavily for Kansas House Bill 2018 in 2002 (HB2018: The Renewable Energy Electric Cooperative Act).
8. 2015 10 01 I've been a public speaker > 100 times, including in some cases the Keynote Speaker, at clean energy industry conferences, conventions and/or seminars since the 1990s. An example:Solartech West Coast 2015 & one example of when I was a judge is here: XBRL Challenge Judge.
9. Public speaking engagements
1. 2017 AWWA (American Water & Wastewater Association) CA-NV Conference
2. Guest speaker [I've done this dozens of times at numerous schools] - California State University, Chico - Seminar in the Geosciences: Renewable Energy and the Environment
3. 2017 12 06 - 2017 FIABCI Global Real Estate Summit
10. I'm an expert (contributor) at OurEnergyPolicy.org where I weigh in on various energy topics from time to time and when asked.
11. I've been featured on television on the Discovery Channel, PBS, Pat Summerall’s Champions of Industry, Fox News, Sky Radio (in-flight radio for American, United, Northwest, Delta), NPR & numerous radio stations & podcasts. An example:
1. 2006 09 23 - Public Eye radio show
12. My articles have been published in Bank News Magazine, KC Small Business Monthly, The Sustainable Investor, SolarAccess.com, Forbes magazine (KC edition) & countless newspapers.

Virus immunity-boosting tips

My tips for making yourself virtually immune to viruses include:

1. Alkaline water. Did you know that during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, people drank water mixed with baking soda. Today, we can simply buy alkaline water or an alkaline water machine. Contact me for a 10%+ discount on an AlkaViva machine. [Source1, Source2]
2. Supplements. Elderberry, Colostrum, Turmeric, Astragalus, Grapefruit Seed Extract, and liquid probiotics are my favorite 1st line of defense.
3. Sauna or Steam. Especially infrared sauna, at least 1x per day beginning upon the earlier of exposure or 1st sign of mild symptoms.
4. Physical exercise, especially in sunlight, to get the cardiovascular system working hard - but not too hard.
5. Aspirin. But do not take ibuprofen or Tylenol!
6. Of course, a gram of prevention = a kilo of cure! So, PLEASE wear a face mask!
7. Also use non-toxic hand sanitizer (lavender, peppermint) - beware of toxic hand sanitizers w deadly ingredients!

Wellness tips that work for me

Eat good fats! Eat fat to get thin. Avoid low-fat and non-fat. The body needs good fat, so if I avoid fat I force my body into a fat-storing mode and start to increase my waistline. So, I eat whole-fat yogurt (with no artificial sweeteners and low sugar), whole milk, meat with fat (not too lean!), and lots of avocados (guac, baby!), nuts, and healthy oils (olive oil, peanut, sunflower, avocado, and coconut oils).

Sleep! I average 7-8 hours per night. Yes, I’m super busy. Yes, I’ve made millions of dollars in my lifetime. But that doesn’t mean I’m a machine & neglect my body. I strive for balance, and that includes allocating time for adequate sleep. It helps my body burn fat, restores my spirit & soul, and keeps me super productive with high energy each day.

Exercise! No surprise here. I find that #HIIT (High-Intensity Intermittent Training), ninja warrior, parkour, sprint/walk (this applies to running, swimming, biking, etc.), and similar exercise works much better for me than endurance exercise (like long-distance or long-duration exercise). 

Yoga – 26 years and counting (since 1991) at least once a week but usually 2x per week. I can’t recommend this too strongly. It keeps my body strong (especially my core and my joints), flexible and healthy, as well as providing de-toxifying benefits to my organs.

High protein, low carbs. I find that bread and other starchy foods (pasta, rice, etc.) go right to my waistline. So, I severely restrict starchy carbs and limit my carbs to mostly just vegetables and some fresh fruit. I eat mostly eggs, nuts, avocados, meats (lots of fish – but I avoid farm-raised salmon due to the high toxicity) and peanut butter. Lots of peanut butter.

Alkaline water – we have a machine at home & I strongly recommend you drink a lot of alkaline water. Do some research on it. I drink a full glass of water every morning before anything else touches my stomach, sometimes with some fresh lemon juice squeezed in. This kick-starts my day and I don’t need coffee and don't eat as much for breakfast.

Fast – I wait as long as I can between meals, helping my body burn fat by fasting a bit. Usually, I only eat 2 high protein, high good fat (nuts, seeds, beans, avocado, oils, meats), and low carb meals per day.

Organic!! I have been eating almost exclusively organic foods since 1986 when my mom taught me thru her actions how important the avoidance of toxins is in foods. America uses more pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides per capita than any other country by a HUGE margin. We’re slowly killing ourselves. Eat organic. Duh.

Massage – I get bodywork about every 3-4 weeks. It helps me detox and keeps my tissues young & supple. Health is about assimilation & elimination. The body can assimilate foods that are not processed and don’t contain chemicals or additives. Read the ingredients of everything you buy: if you can’t pronounce something or don’t recognize it, don’t put it in your body! Some toxins are inevitable, so for me, massage helps me rid my body of this crap.

Toxin avoidance. As hard as I try to avoid toxins, they are everywhere: in our air, water, and food. The body has evolved to protect itself from anything unknown that we ingest by wrapping it up with fat molecules (to shield the body from the unknown particle(s)). So, the more toxins you eat or drink (like Splenda / Sucralose/ High Fructose Corn Syrup or other artificial sweeteners) the fatter you get because the body has to wrap up those nasties with protective fat. I’m no doctor, I just know what happens with my own body & I’ve done a ton of research and tried lots of different things. This is another reason I’m so passionate about wind, solar & other clean energy sources: over 80% of the mercury in our air & water comes from coal plants, along with lead, arsenic, cadmium, and lots of other nasty stuff.

See also: How to lose 15 pounds in 5 days

When you sleep affects mental health dramatically

Living organisms are governed by an internal biological clock known as the circadian rhythm, and as the Earth rotates every 24 hours, this clock aligns with the cycle of day and night. In a new study, scientists reveal that this process has a strong link to mental health. There’s a larger chunk of the genome dedicated to body clocks than previously realized, and those genes are linked to others that determine a person’s overall state of well-being. In the paper, released Tuesday in Nature Communications, medical researchers explain that being a “morning person” or “evening person” is a behavioral consequence of a person’s underlying circadian rhythm, which is shaped by their genes. Some genes, they found, can even shift a person’s natural waking time by up to 25 minutes. In the study, they investigated whether these “chronotype” genes were associated with any genes related to mental health. They found that people who tend to wake up earlier are more likely to experience a greater sense of well-being and a lower risk of schizophrenia and depression.

https://www.inverse.com/article/52855-body-clock-circadian-rhythm-depression

Intermittent Fasting - When We Eat (or Don't) Matters...a Lot!

I've been practicing Intermittent Fasting (IF) since summer 2017, 18 months ago as of the time I write this blog. That doesn't mean I can't eat yummy foods like home-made buckwheat pancakes with fresh whipped cream (all organic, and yes I made them myself :) 

At 50+ years old, it was the only method that worked to melt off the last of the belly fat I was trying so hard to lose.

It takes some getting used to, but there are SO many benefits. Check out the NY Times article below for some recent research. I have 1st hand experience with the following benefits:

1.       Reduces body fat

2.       Melts belly fat (for me, that was hardest to lose)

3.       More energy

4.       Less joint pain & inflammation

5.       Better sleep

6.       More strength

7.       Saves money

8.       Stronger immune system

9.       Saves time

10.   Simplifies my life a bit (2 meals per day + healthy snacks w good fat: nuts, olives, avocados)

What is it?  For me, I do 8 & 16: 8-hour window of eating, 16 hours of fasting…every day.  I generally eat my first meal about 4-5 hours after I wake up (so around 11 or noon), then my last meal is 8 hours later (around 7-8 pm). 

I generally go to sleep around 11 and wake up around 6:30 or 7 (I am consistent about getting 7 to 7.5 hours of sleep, minimum).

Think about it: we evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to eat one big meal per day, usually (two if we were lucky), with snacks of nuts, seeds, berries, etc.  Now, society tells us we should eat 3 meals per day, but our bodies were not designed to process that much food.  Assimilation and elimination are the two most important functions our body performs.  If we throw too much food into our systems, the body must work super hard to digest it and assimilate the nutrients properly.  This generally takes several hours.

But if we throw more food in our system too soon (just as it’s getting through the last meal), many of the nutrients will not be properly assimilated and the body will be forced to eliminate a lot of the food that it doesn’t have time to process.  That’s not only wasteful, it leads to incomplete assimilation and challenges with elimination.  Over time, these imbalances can lead to a whole host of health problems that may manifest in dangerous ways. 

When We Eat, or Don’t Eat, May Be Critical for Health

A growing body of research suggests that our bodies function optimally when we align our eating patterns with our circadian rhythms.

See NY Times article here or https://getpocket.com/a/read/2268038902.

How Exercise May Make Us Healthier (NYT) - Protein activity

I was fascinated with this article, especially since I eat a high protein, very low carb diet (lots of peanut butter, fish, seeds, nuts, and plant protein - and almost no bread).  Evidently, protein activity in the body is not well understood...especially among those who exercise a lot. 

Check it out!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/well/move/how-exercise-may-make-us-healthier.html

Troy Helming
SolarNinjaTroy