Jean Pain (12 December 1928 – 30 July 1981) was a Swiss-born[1] French inventor and innovator who developed the compost heater, a compost-based bioenergy system, that produced 100% of his energy needs.
He also distilled enough methane to run an electricity generator, cooking elements, and power his truck.
This method of creating usable energy from composting materials has come to be known as "Jean Pain Composting", or the "Jean Pain Method".
Jean and his wife, Ida, lived near Domaine des Templiers, on a 241-hectare (596-acre) timber tract near the Alpes de Provence.
Pain died from bladder cancer in 1981, aged 52.