Why Replacing Diesel Can’t Wait
Replacing diesel doesn’t mean waiting for perfect solutions. Serenity Power is cutting emissions now with flexible fuel cells that work with today’s infrastructure. Founder Aleisha Cerny explains why urgency and pragmatism matter in the energy transition.
Serenity Power’s Founder on Cutting Emissions Now Using the Fuels We Already Have
Power Where Diesel Still Rule
A clean energy startup that emerged from the University of Toronto ecosystem is developing advanced solid-oxide fuel cells to generate localized electricity in areas where diesel generators and conventional combustion units still predominate. The team is small, just three people. They are focused on making on-site power more efficient, more practical, and easier to deploy across industries that rely on portable generation.
Solid oxide fuel cells operate at high temperatures and can run on multiple fuels, including hydrogen, natural gas, and blends. That flexibility matters in a transition where hydrogen is often expensive and where retrofitting every pipeline for hydrogen is not realistic in the near term. Cerny first describes the value proposition in performance terms. Fuel cells can reach up to 60 percent efficiency, around double what a typical combustion engine achieves, which means less fuel is required for the same power output.
The environmental case is tied to both carbon and air quality. Because the system does not rely on combustion, it avoids pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and particulate matter, which are associated with respiratory illness. In her framing, the category is about more than decarbonization. It is also about eliminating the dirty side effects that follow diesel conventional combustion units wherever they are used, from urban streets to remote worksites.
Building for the Customers Who Need It Now
Over the past year, the team spoke with more than 100 potential customers to test where the technology could land first. The conclusion was that the system could help in many areas, but the focus would come from identifying who needs it immediately and has the budget to move forward. That process led them toward the energy industry and toward Calgary, where they could be closer to operators, pilots, and partners.
The use cases Cerny lists make the opportunity tangible. Diesel generators and conventional combustion units show up on construction sites, at mining operations, at oil and gas facilities, and behind film and television crews on location. They also appear in everyday urban life, such as food trucks operating loud equipment that vents fumes into the street. Replacing diesel and conventional combustion units in even a slice of those settings can deliver meaningful reductions in emissions and local pollution, while also lowering operating costs when diesel and conventional combustion units is more expensive.
The move to Calgary was also enabled by momentum in non-dilutive financing. Cerny said the team is entering 2026 with about $1 million in grants and pitch competition winnings, but will need additional capital to fully execute. The aim now is to deliver technology milestones starting in the first quarter of 2026, while staying close to industry feedback rather than building in isolation.
A Climate Worldview Built on Urgency, Not Ideology
Cerny’s path into climate work started long before the company. She describes early activism, including a period abroad where she became so involved that it derailed her studies. She also connects her outlook to growing up in a low-income, single-parent household while attending school alongside wealthier peers, which made her sensitive to how different realities can coexist.
That background informed both her motivation and her shift in strategy. “I think what I’ve learned is that even through my activist journey, is that things aren’t black and white,” she said, describing how easy it is to label entire technologies or industries as good or bad without understanding tradeoffs and supply chains. She points to the complexity of hydrogen production, including how much of it is still sourced from natural gas, and to how “zero emission” standards can overlook upstream impacts such as electricity and water use, mining, and materials.
One conversation stood out for clarifying her stance on progress. “I’d rather make 30% lower CO2 today than wait 20 years to make 100%,” she said, describing a mindset rooted in time pressure rather than purity tests. In that view, collaboration with incumbents is not a surrender. It is leverage, especially when infrastructure and capital already exist, and the goal is to scale quickly.
About Flashpoint POV Spotlights
Flashpoint Global produces each Founder POV Spotlight using its proprietary category leadership framework. Every Spotlight begins with a Future Narrative session, where a founder’s POV is clarified and operationalized as the lens through which new categories are built. The result is content that moves founders beyond product messaging and into the role of category leader, helping the market understand the problem, the stakes, and the future being created.
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