About Us

Pend Oreille Innovation Center (POIC) is building stronger, more resilient rural communities by combining cutting-edge greenhouse design with residual computer heat to grow food in areas with short growing seasons and cold weather.

We saw an opportunity to address multiple challenges facing rural and tribal areas with one holistic solution. We take electronic thermal energy that is already being produced for–and paid by–datacenters and recycle and re-use it to grow food in climates where it was previously infeasible. Our special adaptation of technological and natural processes takes what would be residual computing energy and repurposes it to create bountiful growing conditions in the harshest of weather.

This innovation reduces carbon footprints, improves local food production and food security, stimulates the local economy, and creates high-quality green jobs and rural workforce training opportunities. And grows delicious veggies at the same time!

POIC is the product of the hard work and vision of a village of people ranging from subject matter experts to community members. Taking the lead in this endeavor, Amy Sawyer is drawing on her years in the energy, business, and technology industry to solve the challenges of bringing HMLE greenhouse to life.
 
Dr. Trevor Lane, leading the microcredential education through POIC, connects earning, learning, and employment, especially as it involves public education from K-12 through technical learning to colleges and universities.  His personal and professional experience in workforce development provides critical expertise and community-strengthening practices/processes as a solver of multivariate problems affecting rural and tribal areas to align with urban-centric opportunities.