--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: The Guiding Star of the Energy Revolution image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Guiding Star of the Energy Revolution **Envision and the Dawn of a New Prosperity for Civilization** When the Energy Institute bestows its President’s Award for exceptional leadership in addressing global energy challenges, it usually chooses a top-echelon diplomat or United Nations representative whose actions have had a global impact. But this year, it selected an entrepreneur and business leader who is also impacting the world—Lei Zhang, the founder and CEO of green technology firm Envision. As the first private sector recipient of the honor, Lei joined the ranks of the most influential figures in global energy. During his acceptance speech at the International Energy Week Awards Dinner in London on February 12, he didn’t speak solely about climate or technology. He spoke about civilization. “This award affirms a shared vision of creating a new prosperity for civilization,” Lei said.  As Lei sees it, we are standing at a pivotal moment in human history. Artificial intelligence is ushering in a new era of energy demand. Over the next 50 years, global electricity demand could increase tenfold. At the same time, fossil fuels are finite and the climate crisis is intensifying. This raises a fundamental question: How can we sustain long-term prosperity for civilization? Lei’s answer was bold yet systematic: humanity must build a new energy foundation on three essential pillars: Infinite. Intelligent. Inexpensive. At the most recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Lei participated in a panel chaired by former Vice President Al Gore in which speakers lamented political inertia and worsening climate disasters. When Gore described expanding deserts as symbols of crisis, Lei responded “The Gobi Desert is my favorite place. The solution to our crisis lies in the desert. We are going to turn the Gobi into a giant green energy field.” That was more than a prediction. Lei is already making it a reality. Deep in the desolate Mars-like plains of Mongolia’s Gobi Desert stands the Chifeng Net Zero Industrial Park, Envision’s oasis for a new age of energy. Chifeng is home to clean sustainable industries powered 100 percent by the park’s renewable energy system. Within its confines the company has built the world’s largest facility producing green hydrogen and ammonia—cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels that are essential to decarbonizing industry. Other industrial estates claim to be green, but they struggle to manage their power systems to the satisfaction of businesses. At Chifeng, Envision has developed and deployed its Dubhe Energy Foundation Model, a revolutionary system that meets the needs of industry and has the potential to reshape the global energy landscape.  Named after a star long used by navigators, Dubhe is advancing the frontiers of physical artificial intelligence—AI that directly governs physical systems. Critics cite the vast amounts of energy AI needs to operate. Dubhe turns that liability into a strength. Powered by renewables and working with Tianji, Envision’s large-scale predictive intelligent weather model, Dubhe delivers exponentially more energy than it consumes and at cost parity to fossil fuels. It anticipates and responds to Tianji’s weather intelligence to manage Chifeng’s energy system to the utmost efficiency and reliability at scale. Dubhe moves energy management beyond automation to autonomy. It is self-optimizing, unified, and orchestrates Chifeng’s energy ecosystem of solar, wind, storage and green hydrogen. “For centuries, Dubhe guided humanity through the night sky. Today, Dubhe is the guiding star of the AI era—shaping the AI energy system with a foundation that is infinite, intelligent and inexpensive ,” says Lei. Envision has rapidly established itself as a leader in smart wind turbines, energy storage, and green hydrogen solutions. But with Dubhe, the company has struck gold. Through integrating physical AI with green energy grids and storage, Dubhe is a system poised for exponential adoption and growth. “Renewable energy powered by physical AI is the New Oil,” Lei says. Oil is often found in harsh terrains, including deserts. Its supply is limited. The new oil is also found in deserts, but it is limitless. When people see the desert, they see “uselessness, barrenness, emptiness. I see abundance,” Lei says. It is a landscape filled with powerful winds and bright sunshine, never-ending sources of renewable power. That’s why he chose the Gobi to build his groundbreaking project. Where others fret over the challenges of our time, Lei Zhang embraces them. Rather than seeing them as portents of doom, he envisions them as a pathway to a brighter future. This is not merely an energy transition, he says, it is a civilizational transformation. “We are so lucky to be living at a time of renewable energy. We are lucky to be alive at the dawn of AI,” Lei says. And that, Envision believes, is how we create a new prosperity for civilization. [](https://jadserve.postrelease.com/trk.gif?ntv%5Fat=59&ntv%5Fui=daf5956f-c93c-45a6-8998-aa381b264f83&ntv%5Fa=QEcKAI%5Fl2A7icRA&ntv%5Ffl=CF4se3gYGjAPzQcMJoAeWah-7AoE646eHlCds9z5ruO0PV6s9-rqNUTCI93GKsOtkKZmBdJU6NSjzEG73RIUJqOId7JwWfc4sgIgM%5FuSbnOmAstxzJ5cdQuxQQCcZPQaRwKgcNRGZrWm1ntZMX68kQi9M2gkJ%5FUlMA80ieS7PBEYNk9FDKp3iFdJ%5Fg%5F6h6GYiAJ%5FX3uQoaglHygyoUjaGDiq0wdBfF9ULUAkb8lgxReF8YpyVMkB8QZRYbIYnTgIBrHxqMvtFm5CLBoddMISwlpCrrvQWJUb7T5gWyCJGXCTDDgBa0JPNefGYpQlpzeyPSMxALTC8i9lDvEo0JFbVJbP3NlAHChQtSDLZx4luVlIIybTD0ur6TUAuOOMo8UWAIjqo6TdyUiXiL0C4EGEQBvMo2MjBNjz0IkptkcXyE53flr4Ya-b4D9659Z7wg3dh9%5FWUKZAfCQaKfR1vckViUkMs4uuWoa90h%5FHPWD4WVA=&ord=613676169&ntv%5Fht=4G8JagA&prx%5Fr=https://www.envision-group.com/) The Guiding Star of the Energy Revolution ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/envision-energy/the-guiding-star-of-the-energy-revolution/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/envision-energy/the-guiding-star-of-the-energy-revolution/"},"headline":"The Guiding Star of the Energy Revolution","datePublished":"2026-07-20T09:47:16.141Z","dateModified":"2026-07-20T09:47:12.984Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/branded-content/envision-energy/the-guiding-star-of-the-energy-revolution/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/envision-energy/the-guiding-star-of-the-energy-revolution/","name":"The Guiding Star of the Energy Revolution"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"C86FCA66696A4CAE8792918E71FF034C Vp9 720p","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/eZbpNT1q/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-05-20T10:31:30.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/eZbpNT1q.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/branded-content/envision-energy/the-guiding-star-of-the-energy-revolution/","duration":"PT6M44S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/branded-content/envision-energy/the-guiding-star-of-the-energy-revolution/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```