2019 Cohort - All Teams

ALINA

ALINA produces state-of-the-art clay mineral materials, by challenging how things are made. By putting people's health first, we take responsibility not only for humans, but for the environment as well. ALINA uses innovative production technology to manufacture clay mineral materials, available for building product manufacturers to substitute use of hazardous chemicals and heavy metals. Reducing environmental pollution, we improve people health and wellbeing.

Armita/X

I have invented the new generation of intelligent, efficient and environmentally friendly portable gas patio heaters which is powered by waste heat and will revolutionize the outdoor heating industry. Waste management is a key in Armita-X technology. Armita-X technology absorbs the wasted heat and converts it into electricity which in turn is stored into the batteries to operate the central processing system, wireless communications and Fans. The fans would reuse the excess heat and direct it into another two heat outlets while filtering the polluting gases with built-in catalysts.

Armita-X app enables businesses to control, monitor and network multiple units and save labor and time. Also built in proximity sensors turn the unit(s) ON/OFFin a smart way, which leads to save gas and money.

Barracuda Technologies Inc.

Barracuda Technologies makes potent natural fibers from Agro waste and residues like rice straw, wheat straw, corn straw and the likes. These fibers can be used in 4 applications:

• Molded Fiber
• Non Woven / Paper and cardboards
• Woven
• MDF

The fibers are green, clean and fully biodegradable and compostable. The process uses zero chemicals.

Blue Dot Motorworks

Blue Dot Motorworks is developing Auxiliary Hybrid Systems as a means of converting existing conventional vehicles into plug-in hybrids. Electrification of personal transportation is a vital strategy in reducing global carbon emissions. An Auxiliary Hybrid System (AHS) provides enough all-electric range for most people to do most of their driving under electric power, while leaving the conventional engine and drivetrain intact and available for longer trips. There are a billion vehicles already on the road. This strategy leverages that existing fleet and avoids the carbon penalty associated with scrapping a vehicle and manufacturing a replacement. It is one of the most cost-effective approaches for reducing carbon emissions. The returns are superior to purchasing a new hybrid or electric vehicle (EV), or installing rooftop solar, in terms of both return on investment and cost of carbon reduction. The resulting plug-in hybrid architecture eliminates range anxiety and geographic limitations, two of the major drawbacks of EVs. The AHS approach achieves these benefits using a relatively small battery, making the most efficient use of limited global battery production capacity. The architectures being developed are vehicle-agnostic, allowing the solution to scale to mass production because custom engineering is not required for installation on any specific vehicle. Commuters, around-town drivers, and fleet operators that employ a variety of vehicles can realize significant lifetime fuel savings while making a meaningful contribution to the prevention of climate change and establishing green credentials for their brand.

Eco Vials

Provides biodegradable packaging design, production and B2B distribution, to reduce climate change, energy waste, and plastic pollution.

EVE Energy Ventures inc

EVE is an electric vehicle (EV) charging software platform that manages all EV charging operations for property managers in a way that makes the chargers profitable instead of a cost center. Our software enhances property value by improving the way EV chargers are used through an Automated Scheduling App that increases access to chargers for drivers, while minimizing electric costs by up to 50% for buildings. Our platform is easy to implement, energy-efficient, and economical for all stakeholders.

Evolve Energy

Evolve Energy can save residential customers in deregulated markets up to 50% on their electricity costs by switching our customers to “industrial” electricity rates while using IOT/ML to autonomously shift their usage to cheaper/lower carbon times of the day. For our average customer in Texas (our first market), that’s $1,500/year in savings. In regulated states, such as California, we help customers autonomously load shift around Time of Use rates. We make our customers smart homes smarter by automatically saving them money. We also pass through real-time carbon information to customers and can enable them to co-optimize for cost, comfort, and carbon.

GenH

GenH is a Hydropower technology and project development company developing a fully modular and rapidly deployable system to electrify non-powered dams without construction. GenH’s market focus is on low head (<30ft) non-powered dams and irrigation heads of which there are ~100,000 heads in the US with a total capacity of ~12GW and inventories in Asia are in the low millions. The Adaptive Hydro System is a modular mass produced system that removes all construction from Hydroelectric installation and has no structural impact on the dam or environmental impact on the surrounding area or the river. This changes Hydro’s operational paradigms and constraints, allowing Adaptive Hydro System to produce stable (firm capacity) and very inexpensive (below $0.025/kWh) clean energy. The Adaptive Hydro System was designed specifically for rapid electrification. Adaptive Hydro’s modules can be installed in a month instead of the 2-4 years typical of Hydroelectric installation. Adaptive Hydro significantly reduces project risk both in the lead time and expense before a project goes active and in kWh output and sale volatility. The Systems output is stable for its lifetime, allowing it to leverage regulatory structures designed for Renewable Energy and Fossil Fuel, such as clean incentives or capacity payments.

Green GrubBox

Green GrubBox provides a sustainable option for enjoying takeout food from all your favorite food joints. GGB works with individuals, firms, college/business campuses and property managers to reduce on-site waste and “keep it local.” Our reusable takeout containers are made of high quality material which can be easily “checked out” using our mobile app. Our patent pending inventory management system utilizes the QR code to track usage for each container. When you’re done with your grub, the GGB app will point you to a convenient drop station. We take care of the check-in process, handling and washing of all containers, and re-stocking them to all participating GGB restaurants. Since our containers can handle up to 1,000 washes, we monitor their lifespan and then handle all the recycling, which means that 100% of our containers should never see a landfill. End of life containers are either recycled or repurposed.

The Hago Energetics Company

Recycles the carbon from power plants into profitable products such as activated carbon and hydrocarbons. They do this by combining power plant carbon with carbon from trees to make valuable chemicals.

Industrial Climate Solutions

Existing carbon capture solutions are held back from capital cost, operating cost and plant size. ICS's solution is able to reduce the size of the front-end contacts to one-fifth the size of conventional towers.

InPipe Energy

InPipe Energy has developed an easy-to-install power generation system that has the potential to capture up to 12 GW of energy wasted in US Water distribution. The InPipe In-PRV TM integrates into existing water infrastructure and replicates industry standard pressure reduction equipment while generating significant carbon-free electricity at a fraction of the footprint and cost of alternate renewables.

Mobile Recycling System

Recycling starts at home. "Uber" for recyclables.

The purpose of the proposed business is to optimize a process of collecting recyclables by encouraging people/end users to sort recyclables out by picking them up separately using a truck equipped with scales - this allows an on-site evaluation of the recyclables cost by a collector and depending on the evaluation, rewarding recyclables reporter by immediately submitting the reward request into the reporters account. The specified business cycle is performed, for the most part, using a mobile application at each step, e.g. report, collection, evaluation, etc. Rewards can be monetary and non-monetary.

Main customers of platform are Recycling companies. Our vision is that it ultimately will result in effective collection of recyclables, keeping them clean during collection and convenience both for Recycling companies and individuals who want to hand over recyclables using the mobile app.

Oasense

Smart sensor showerhead with strong flow and efficient usage of water.

Pick My Solar

Pick My Solar is a managed marketplace for distributed energy resources including rooftop and community solar, energy storage, and electric vehicle charging. The overarching goal of Pick My Solar is to empower communities through transparency and choice by simplifying the purchasing process for electrification products, driving down costs, and providing the consumer advocacy necessary for electrification to achieve broad market success. Pick My Solar has partnered with major utilities such as ConEdison, San Diego Gas & Electric and Orlando Utilities Commission to deliver a customer-centric approach to the complicated process of comparing the cost and savings opportunities of home electrification products. To date, the platform has solicited over 42,000 bids for approximately 3,500 residential projects and signed more than 1,000 solar and energy storage contracts. Pick My Solar is supported by the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, the US Department of Energy, the California Public Utilities Commission.

RePurpose Energy

RePurpose Energy tests, reassembles, and operates used electric vehicle batteries to store solar energy. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, “the long-term success of the solar industry depends on the cost-effective integration of energy storage”. Our team leverages over ten years of academic research on the reuse of electric vehicle batteries to provide solar developers with energy storage at less than half the cost of new battery alternatives, so they can double the net present value of each installation, and California can accomplish its clean energy goals.

Swirltex

Swirltex has developed a revolutionary membrane technology that can significantly improve filtration efficiency and membrane lifetime. It has many applications including wastewater treatment and recycling, as well as food and beverage processing. Our unique technology opens tubular membrane applications to a broader market through significant improvements in flux (production) and energy efficiency compared to traditional operation methods. The design combines membrane filtration with buoyancy manipulation in a unique flow pattern, to greatly increase permeate production while reducing fouling, currently the greatest pain for the industry. Swirltex utilized a vortex generatingdevice within the tubular membrane to center less buoyant material (air and solids) toward the center of the tube, reducing solid interaction with the membrane surface. The technology can be implemented as an improvement to processes that currently employ tubular membranes and can also enable the use of tubular membranes where they were originally not viable.

Suncast

Suncast is a Chilean startup specialized in Data Science, which offers digital services to maximize production in photovoltaic and wind farms. Our mission is to contribute to the energy revolution and increase the penetration of clean energy in every energy markets of the world.

The services are packaged in just one web service called Smart O&M that is delivered to the customer:

• Hourly generation forecasts
• Energy sales price forecasts
• Rain and cloud forecasts
• Optimization of the cleaning and maintenance plan
• Direct bidding for photovoltaic panel cleaning services with local suppliers

All these data are delivered to the customer in real time, allowing reduce uncertainty of energy production, Enhance operation of the plant through advanced and useful information, automate sending of forecasts reports to the network operator and optimize amount and dates for cleaning and maintenance of solar panels according to future weather conditions.

The hourly generation prediction models were tested in a photovoltaic plant in northern Chile with Engie Laborelec. The results were impressive, with an average of 60% less prediction error than our competitors. We are finalizing the first commercial pilot with Acciona Energía, the service will be operational for the El Romero plant, one of the largest photovoltaic plants in Chile, in less than a month. In addition, in August 2019 we teamed up with ABB to connect our information systems and offer its customer base our services.

Taka Solar

Taka Solar produces integrated solar panel plus mounting solutions aimed at flat commercial roofs. Sales by solar installers to commercial building owners have been roughly flat for a decade, while the other sectors of the solar market have grown rapidly. Standard flat solar panels work well on homes and in the desert, but are not optimized for large flat roofs because they catch wind strongly. Installation is more expensive than the panels are, causing finished system costs to be too high for most building owners to justify. Taka’s aerodynamic panels don’t catch the wind, slashing the amount of mounting hardware required and speeding installation by 4 times. Those factors bring the cost of solar electricity below the utility so that installers can sell many more systems and the current $2B/year commercial solar market can grow rapidly to provide vast quantities of new clean energy.

Terrafuse

Terrafuse is building data fusion technology to re-engineer the climate and weather risk prediction infrastructure around next-generation AI models and hardware and real-time observational data. Its technology substantially reduces the time and cost to build and run physics-based models, while natively integrating remote and ground sensing data. This results in several orders of magnitude speedups and enables real-time, hyperlocal, scalable climate hazard estimation. It is developing this technology for use-cases in energy, insurance, and financial sectors.

Wise Earthcare

Wise Earthcare is a healthcare company for earthcare.

We are bringing to market a line of oral care products (toothbrushes, floss, etc.) that are sustainable and biodegradable. Over 1 billion toothbrushes are thrown away every year in the US, equaling about 50 million pounds of plastic (99% of this plastic is not recyclable). In fact, this is such a problem that the American Dental Association is urging manufacturers to choose biodegradable materials. We are targeting health and earth conscious consumers through a “set it and forget it” subscription model and through dental visit take-homes. The total addressable market for oral care products is over $17 billion.

YellowTin

YellowTin is a cloud-based data-driven platform through which our customers (such as Community Choice Aggregators, Munis, IOUs) can educate & empower their residential customers to make informed decisions about switching to cost-effective electricity-based solutions at their own pace. Residents using the platform receive integrated & personalized recommendations that provide dollar & carbon savings on a range of clean technology options they can pursue. Our core focus is on solar, electric vehicles, battery storage, energy-efficient heat pump water heaters & space conditioners, and induction cooktops.

Our customers will receive one or more of the following benefits:

● Increased revenue through expanded electricity sales resulting from electrification.

● Achieve carbon-reduction goals.

● Improved engagement with their residential customers.