Innovative Startups: Focus on Energy Efficiency and Reliability

This year's Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator, or IN2, has introduced three startups focusing on energy efficiency and reliability in commercial buildings. The program, coadministered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, or NREL, features a $55 million investment and aims to bolster America's energy grid by enhancing building-level independence and operational continuity.

The selected startups are MicroEra Power, SkyCool Systems, and Verv Energy. MicroEra Power presents a tunable thermal energy storage system that optimizes HVAC equipment, claiming to be 20% more efficient than traditional systems, with minimal water requirements.

CEO Ellie Rusling highlighted that this system is particularly advantageous for urban applications, as it shifts HVAC loads to off-peak periods, resulting in lower energy costs. Furthermore, the materials used have a significantly lower cost compared to lithium and do not degrade over decades of use, enabling high annual utilization.

SkyCool Systems aims to revolutionize building cooling by using a specialized material that passively cools surfaces by maintaining temperatures significantly lower than ambient air. CEO Arjun Saroya emphasized that their material can reduce operating costs by 90% compared to conventional HVAC systems, making it an effective solution for large buildings like warehouses.

Verv Energy utilizes machine learning technology to detect coolant leaks in air-conditioning systems, capturing high-resolution energy data to identify faults and track performance degradation over time.

CEO Peter Davies noted that their system samples data tens of thousands of times per second, enhancing predictive maintenance capabilities. Both Verv Energy and MicroEra Power will validate their technologies through the IN2 program, which has previously supported 77 startups, raising over $2.6 billion in follow-on funding since its inception in 2014.

With a focus on practical solutions that address rising energy demands and extreme weather conditions, this cohort represents a significant step forward in the built environment's energy efficiency and reliability.