Wesley S. Bonafe, P.E. entered the engineering profession as a draftsman in 1980 at the age of 22. Over the next 50 years he worked his way through every role the profession offers, from tracing floor plans and running prints to leading engineering departments, hiring and firing staff, and setting design standards for one of Virginia’s prominent architectural firms. He earned his Professional Engineer license in Virginia in 1994 and in North Carolina in 1999. He holds an AAS in Mechanical Engineering from Thomas Nelson Community College, earned through nine years of night school while working full time.
That path was not without cost.
In 2007 Wes was diagnosed with a brain tumor. A cavernous angioma was removed on August 3rd of that year. Two brain bleeds followed. The career he had built over nearly three decades was disrupted in ways that could not be undone through effort alone. Most people would have stopped.
He did not.
He adapted. He changed jobs. He kept working. He eventually transitioned into sales engineering at Trench Drain Supply in 2014, where he has spent over a decade helping contractors and designers select and specify the right product for the right application. The work is different from what came before. The standard has not changed.
It has been his experience that most problems in engineering and construction trace back to coordination failures. Documents that do not match. Assumptions that were never stated. Details that were precise on paper and wrong in the field. That conviction has shaped everything he has done, from writing specifications to answering a contractor’s question about a drain channel.
Bonafe Technology is not a company in the conventional sense. It is a platform for ideas that deserve to exist in the world regardless of whether they generate revenue. Three of those ideas are offered here at no cost to anyone who finds them useful.
The Natural Connection Heat Pump Cycle is a biomimicry-inspired enhancement to conventional air-source heat pump systems. It integrates solar thermal collection, evaporative cooling, and thermal storage to reduce heating and cooling energy consumption in residential and light commercial applications. The concept is fully developed, energy modeled, and ready for an OEM partner or licensee with the resources to take it forward. It is offered here freely.
The Water Supply Plan addresses a problem that became visible during wildfire events in California. Burned structures allow water to drain from distribution systems faster than it could be replenished, leaving hydrants dry when they were needed most. The plan proposes an automatic valve based approach to keeping hydrants charged and available. It is offered here freely.
The Climate Change Mitigation concept addresses the gap between what wealthy nations could build and what poorer nations could afford. It proposes a donation-supported model for funding nuclear or hydroelectric generating capacity in developing nations, with natural gas peaking capability where needed. The goal is decarbonization without leaving the developing world behind. It is offered here freely.
A fifth area, practical AI guidance for everyday use, is in development. The general public does not need to understand how large language models work in order to benefit from them. What most people need is a set of tested, practical prompts organized around the situations they actually face. Medical appointments. Home repair. Financial decisions. Complaint letters. That content is being prepared and will be available to members at a low monthly cost.
Wes lives in Powhatan, Virginia with his wife. They raised three sons. The house is nearly paid off. The work continues.
The ideas on this site are the result of 50 years of showing up, paying attention, and refusing to quit when things went wrong. They are offered in that spirit.
If any of them are useful to you, use them.