Ben Gray

About the Author by Hank Goertzen On the surface, Ben Gray looks like most other Albertans of his generation with a farming and ranching background - cowboy hat and boots, blue jeans, western belt buckle. But what has always set Ben apart from his contemporaries is a mechanical inclination and a constant desire to find better ways of doing things. Ben was born in 1938 on a mixed farm in a remote area of northwestern Alberta without electric power or running water. Like many Alberta boys, after...See more

About the Author by Hank Goertzen On the surface, Ben Gray looks like most other Albertans of his generation with a farming and ranching background - cowboy hat and boots, blue jeans, western belt buckle. But what has always set Ben apart from his contemporaries is a mechanical inclination and a constant desire to find better ways of doing things. Ben was born in 1938 on a mixed farm in a remote area of northwestern Alberta without electric power or running water. Like many Alberta boys, after high school he left the farm and worked on oilfield rigs until he bought his own in 1971. Ben's natural inventiveness led to his first major product development in 1973, when he built the first Coiled Tubing Units with air compressors for cleaning shallow gas wells in Southern Alberta. These types of units continue to be used on almost every shallow gas well in Canada. By 2002, Ben had left the drilling business and returned to his rural heritage with a Buffalo ranch in Silver Valley, Alberta. But he was still busy inventing things, and while running his ranch he also developed two prototypes of equipment eventually used in horizontal drilling programs in undersea gas fields. The sale of the prototypes and a patent to a major petroleum company allowed Ben to pursue yet another unique dream in a completely different field! He was able to finance a long held plan to custom build a sea going boat and travel from near his ranch in Alberta, through the river systems of northern Canada to the Arctic Ocean and then around the world! He and his two sons undertook "the Idlewild expedition" in 2005 - 2006 and did make it safely around the world, albeit with many adventures from severe weather to pirates! The Renata Project is only the latest example of Ben's fresh ideas. Renata means "Born Again." It represents a paradigm shift in thinking about two things: How we design new communities How we design transportation systems While a high level and unique concept today, Ben is convinced that it can be practically implemented and truly help communities of the future to be "born again" in an economically sound, and environmentally sustainable way." See less