Showcase GEF 2018
An exciting Innovation Showcase featuring more than 30 diverse Bay Area startups will be held on November 1, 2018, the first day of the Global Energy Forum (GEF). Each company exemplifies the breakthrough technologies and products that are emerging from the local innovation ecosystem. Forum attendees and showcase exhibitors will have opportunities to network with each other on November 1 -- during lunch and the 6 pm reception when the showcase will be taking place, and through appointments that afternoon made via the GEF mobile app.
Here is a list of showcase exhibitors:
Airity Technologies
Compact high-voltage power converters that enable new applications
Airity Technologies, Inc. develops and sells advanced power conversion technologies, including the world’s smallest high-voltage power supplies. Our circuit topologies provide more efficient and compact high-voltage DC and radio frequency sources. These have been applied to semiconductor manufacturing, aerospace, lighting, medicine, and research applications where high performance, low cost, and extremely small size and weight are important and enable new technologies. Airity also develops nanosecond-scale high voltage pulse generators for low-temperature atmospheric plasmas. Airity leverages proprietary IP and leading research in power electronics from Stanford University. The company is based in Redwood City, CA, and is expanding through a combination of product sales and close collaborations with leading clients.
Antora Energy
Inexpensive energy storage for a cleaner grid
Antora Energy is developing an extremely low-cost thermal battery by combining high-temperature, solid state thermal storage with thermophotovoltaic (TPV) energy conversion. Energy is stored as high-grade sensible heat with high density in earth-abundant materials, giving all-in energy costs below $6/kWhe. Unlike molten thermal storage systems, which are plagued by freezing, tank corrosion, and costly pumping infrastructure, an all-solid system does not require moving any high-temperature material. Instead, the key challenge is efficiently extracting heat from the storage medium. We address this by inserting a lightweight and modular TPV heat engine directly into the storage volume, enabling all-in power costs under $370/kWe. These low capital costs yield a levelized cost of storage of below $0.05/kWh. We are focusing exclusively on technologies & materials that have demonstrated scale-up potential. If successful, our system will enhance grid resiliency, provide low-cost capacity, support transmission and distribution infrastructure, and enable a greater share of low-cost, intermittent wind and solar power in the future generation mix.
AutoGrid
Software applications to enable a smarter and cleaner distributed energy world
AutoGrid builds software applications that utilize artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data and IoT technologies to enable a smarter and cleaner distributed energy world. The company’s suite of flexibility management applications allows utilities, electricity retailers, renewable energy project developers and energy service providers to deliver clean, affordable and reliable energy by managing networked distributed energy resources (DERs) in real time and at scale. AutoGrid has more than 3,500 megawatts of flexible capacity from DERs under contract and its customer list includes NextEra Energy, E.ON, Total, Xcel Energy, China Light and Power and over 30 other leading global energy companies around the world.
Axiom Energy
Power management platform for the cold chain
Axiom Exergy is an industrial Internet-of-Things (IoT) company focused on transforming the world’s cooling systems into intelligent, cloud-connected energy storage assets. Its Refrigeration Battery® technology enables historically-inflexible commercial and industrial refrigeration systems to operate flexibly and intelligently for the first time. With deep expertise in supermarket energy management, thermal energy systems engineering, cloud software development, and data analytics, Axiom Exergy provides its customers with turnkey power management solutions that reduce operational costs and business risk. Axiom Exergy also offers fully-financed “Storage-as-a-Service” so that supermarkets and commercial buildings with high refrigeration-based energy loads can save more than they pay from day one.
Biota
DNA Sequencing for global oil & gas industry
Biota deploys DNA sequencing and data science to explore the earth’s subsurface. We provide actionable diagnostics to the oil & gas industry for maximizing reservoir economics and reducing environmental impact. Biota delivers multimillion–dollar value with insights into drainage volumes, well connectivity, and engineered completions. Our patented technology has been applied on over 500 wells across the world in shale and conventional assets.
Citrine Informatics
Citrine Informatics is the world-leading platform for materials and chemicals development. Our technology reduces the time it takes to develop new materials and chemicals by 50-70% by combining the power of materials data and AI. Our customers include some of the biggest and most respected names in the materials and chemicals industry in Asia, North America, and Europe. We are also very fortunate to be supported by leading investors including Tencent Holdings, B&C Holdings, Innovation Endeavors, DCVC (Data Collective), Prelude Ventures, AME Cloud, and XSeed Capital. Our headquarters is in Redwood City, CA.
ClearFlame Engine Technologies
Cleaner, more powerful engines for heavy-duty applications
ClearFlame Engine Technologies is using over $1M in non-dilutive funding, in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory, to commercialize a patented technology that the founders initially invented at Stanford University. The ClearFlame approach enables low-carbon alternative fuels to be utilized in a high-efficiency and low emission engine configuration, enabling a 40% reduction in CO₂ and a 10x reduction in NOx (smog) while simultaneously providing 30% more power. This technology easily integrates into existing engine designs, and has the ability to displace Diesel-fueled technologies by providing a cleaner and lower cost solution that also maintains efficiency and improves power density, simplifying adoption for users. The technology will disrupt the $125B Diesel engine market by decoupling the performance and simplicity benefits of the Diesel engine design from the dirty emissions and petroleum dependence of Diesel fuel, instead replacing it with renewable alternatives. ClearFlame is currently seeking investors to support the development of an aftermarket retrofit MVP for their technology, while also cultivating OEM partnerships to support this effort, first for co-development, and eventually for licensing or joint venture.
Climate AI
Climate alphas for Investors/Insurers using AI
Climate AI uses AI to predict risk of Climate Change on specific assets, portfolios and companies in 3 months to long term time frame and use that to generate alphas for investors, operators and insurers.
Cuberg
Ultra-lightweight and safe lithium metal batteries
Cuberg is a startup developing a next-generation battery technology based on a non-flammable electrolyte formulation and a lithium metal anode. These cells deliver a step-change improvement in energy density and safety compared to the best lithium-ion batteries in the world today. The technology is a true drop-in solution that can be manufactured and scaled using existing lithium-ion production equipment. It has already been scaled up and demonstrated successfully in a variety of commercial-format prototypes and is currently being evaluated by marquee customers in the defense, aerospace, and oil and gas industries. This technology will power the portable electronics of the future and bring about mass-market electrification of cars, air taxis, and passenger airliners. Cuberg has secured over $4M in funding from private investments and grants, including: Boeing HorizonX Ventures, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and CalSEED. The company spun out of the materials science department at Stanford in 2016 and was initially supported by the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy at Stanford. Cuberg graduated from the prestigious Cyclotron Road entrepreneurial fellowship program at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 2018.
eIQ Mobility
Zero-emission mobility. Zero risk.
eiQ Mobility is a start up backed by Schneider Electric Venture and aims to simplify and accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles by fleets. eIQ Mobility has an opportunity to fix the fleet EV ‘planning-procurement-deployment-operation-optimization’ cycle. We are developing a powerful awareness, decision & planning engine, that harvests data from across fleets, locations, utilities & more, and solve the pain that customers voiced in over 150 interviews. We also build a knowledge base across multiple customers, vehicle categories & regions and grow our capabilities exponentially with time to deliver electric mobility as a service solution to our fleet customers. Our plan is to completely de-risking their migration from diesel to electric and provide zero-emissions mobility with zero risk.
eMotorWerks
eMotorWerks is revolutionizing the electric vehicle (EV) charging market with its grid-integrated JuiceBox charging stations and JuiceNet IoT platform. JuiceNet-enabled devices maximize charging speed and efficiency while providing drivers and fleet managers intuitive control and visibility via mobile apps and online dashboards. By shifting when and how much electricity connected stations draw from the grid, eMotorWerks helps utilities and grid operators reduce electricity costs, ease grid congestion, and maximize the use of solar and wind power. Its partnerships with EVSE and EV manufacturers also allow eMotorWerks to grow the EV charging ecosystem, provide an extensive aggregation cloud platform for grid balancing and optimization, and to deliver new value streams through its energy services.
EtaGen
Building advanced generators that deliver affordable, reliable, and clean power
EtaGen (Mainspring Energy) is developing an advanced power generation technology designed to unlock the full potential of distributed power generation. EtaGen’s linear generator uses a low-temperature reaction of air and fuel to drive magnets through copper coils to efficiently produce electricity. Low capital and maintenance costs combine with high efficiency to yield the highest economic returns of any distributed energy resource. In addition, the ability to run through grid outages, black start, turn on/off quickly, and load track ensures continuous power when needed. High efficiency yields substantial CO₂ savings compared to the electric grid and near-zero emissions enables permitting worldwide. The company is committed to bringing affordable, reliable and clean power to the world. More information at: http://www.etagen.com/.
Gemini Energy Solutions
Identifying energy saving opportunities for commercial spaces under 20,000 sq.ft.
Gemini Energy Solutions provides cost-effective energy audits for small commercial spaces (<20,000sq.ft.). Typically an ASHRAE Level 2 Energy Audit requires significant labor hours, cost, and specialized training. We have developed a platform and business model that enables Gemini trained employees to perform this audit with minimal technical knowledge and ~70% reduction in labor hours resulting in a considerable cost reduction. Gemini has achieved this by embedding our platform with necessary engineering knowledge and auditing skills. This includes: guiding the employee through the entire audit process, selecting energy efficient equivalent equipment, identifying available utility incentives, calculating energy savings, performing financial analysis, etc. The result is a report that includes everything the client needs to make an informed energy investment decision. Our service also includes selecting vetted contractors and vendors to perform any energy equipment retrofits.
Halo Industries, Inc.
Advanced materials manufacturing for solar, semiconductor, LED, mobile and power electronics
Halo Industries is developing a novel technology to drastically reduce the cost as well as significantly improve the production efficiency of advanced materials used in a diverse set of clean tech applications, such as solar, battery, LED and power electronics manufacturing. By replacing a traditional, 50-year-old mechanical sawing technique with a unique laser-based process, remarkable improvements in manufacturing efficiency can be attained leading to considerable reductions in materials waste, energy use, fabrication time and overall greenhouse gas emissions. Our technology not only reduces the cost of these industry-critical, high-tech materials by at least a factor of two but also significantly mitigates the negative effects their production has on the environment. The company is a spin-out from Stanford University and is currently focused on the completion, testing and deployment of an initial pilot system at a strategic solar industry partner.
Indrio Technologies, Inc.
Laser-based chemical sensors developed at Indrio Technologies are poised to disrupt the 32B dollar chemical sensing market. This technology provides chemical concentration at 10,000 times the speed, 1000 times the sensitivity and at smaller form factor than the traditional means of chemical measurement.
Keewi
Intelligent device monitoring and control for buildings
Keewi, a start up founded by two Stanford alumni, sits at the intersection of IoT, machine learning, and energy. Our intelligent detection and automation solution eliminates unnecessary electricity waste by devices plugged into the outlets (plug loads) to finally achieve whole building control and efficiency. We've worked with entities such as Stanford University, the San Francisco Airport, and the Los Angeles Unified School District, to name a few.
Mallinda Industries
Advanced Materials For Lightweighting the Transportation Segment
Mallinda lowers the barriers to adoption of carbon fiber composite parts by improving the economics and reducing the environmental impact of composite part production. Mallinda’s technology enables 1-minute thermoset composite part production cycle times, or less, to met the high volume demands of the automotive segment. In addition, Mallinda’s thermoset materials are circularly recyclable back to precursor molecules in solution for a closed loop, energy-neutral system for the recovery of resin and woven/full-length fiber from end-of-life composite products.
Nelumbo
Advanced materials platform for heating and cooling
Nelumbo provides nanostructured surface technologies to remove bottlenecks and erase assumptions in product design and manufacturing. The company’s primary focus is on developing improved heat exchangers for the HVAC-R market. Their ability to improve energy performance and minimize corrosion in a single platform unlocks mass market opportunity with potential for significant carbon emission and energy use reductions worldwide. Nelumbo is partnered with market leaders in heat transfer efficiency and consumer electronics, world-class universities, and the US Department of Energy. The company and its founders have won numerous awards and fellowships for their products and technologies.
OhmConnect
OhmConnect is a free service that pays our community to save electricity use once per week. Users can sign up, reduce electricity and earn rewards. Saving electricity can be simple – just simply delay doing the dishes or washing your clothes – or it can be automated by connecting wifi thermostats, plugs, and other smart home devices. Signing up takes just 1 minute. OhmConnect gets paid by the energy grid to reduce demand during times of grid stress. OhmConnect was critical in avoiding blackouts during the September 2022 heat wave, saving 1.5 GWh of energy during times when the grid needed it the most – that’s the equivalent of turning off the entire city of San Francisco for a couple of hours! OhmConnect is paving the path towards a sustainable future, while enabling 100% clean energy for everyone. Our mission is to rally people to change how and when they use electricity — unlocking clean, affordable and reliable energy.
Opcondys
Next Generation Power Electronics for a Sustainable Energy Future
Opcondys is a startup based in Manteca, CA, dedicated to advancing stability and security for the electric grid. We will do this by providing a revolutionary power electronic device, the OTV, to manufacturers of equipment for the Smart Grid. Increasingly, renewable energy sources are being added to the grid to meet growing demand for electricity while minimizing environmental impact. In order to integrate a greater percentage of renewable energy generation, equipment for the grid must incorporate power electronic devices in order to provide and maintain proper voltage and current levels, control load flow and avoid disturbances that can lead to cascading outages. The OTV reduces energy losses by 50% compared to existing power electronic devices and allows smaller, lighter equipment designs, saving end users both capital and operating costs. These advantages will ease the adoption of equipment for the Smart Grid and provide grid stability and security. Now in prototype development, the OTV will be available as a beta product by late 2019 with full production beginning in 2020.
Opus 12
Opus 12 converts CO₂ emissions into higher-valued products
Opus 12 (Twelve) has developed a device that recycles CO₂ into cost-competitive chemicals and fuels. Our technology bolts onto any source of CO₂ emissions, and with only water and electricity as inputs, transforms that CO₂ into some of the world's most critical chemical products: a $300 billion global opportunity. Opus 12's platform technology could be the foundation of the next generation of the petrochemical industry: forming products from recycled emissions and renewable electrons instead of from fossil fuels. It could offset 1.5 billion tons of CO₂ emissions annually. In the immediate future, Opus 12 has identified a billion-dollar beachhead application where we can solve a critical customer pain point for 10X lower cost and higher safety than existing solutions. Founded at Stanford in 2015, Opus 12 is currently scaling up its technology with a US manufacturing partner. Opus 12 is the recipient of a Shell GameChanger grant, various SBIR grants from NASA, DOE, ARPA-e, and NSF, and is the winner of the DOE's Transformational Idea Award.
OXO
Parking sucks. OXO facilitates sharing to let people move freely.
OXO – it’s like Tesla and Airbnb had a lovechild. Parking wastes resources -- time, real estate, cars themselves. Also, it sucks. OXO is fixing this. We’re an international team of Stanford-educated engineers, data scientists and an MBA. We help commuters save time and money by connecting them with car-less Uber and Lyft drivers. And we’re just getting started. OXO’s matching model emulates autonomous vehicle patterns. We will use these glimpses into the future to ensure that self-driving cars make people’s lives not just easier, but better. Talk to us about: - autonomous vehicles - future of mobility - sharing economy
Sepion Technologies
Advanced Materials for Energy Storage and Water Treatment
Sepion Technologies is an advanced membrane company developing ion-selective coatings for Li-ion and Li-metal batteries that offer improved energy density, safety, and drop-in compatibility with existing manufacturing. Their platform membrane materials have nanoscale pores that sieve ions at the atomic scale, opening additional market opportunities in water-based applications such as sustainable metal recycling, long-duration grid storage batteries, and water treatment. The company spun out of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in 2015 and has been supported by the Cyclotron Road energy technology incubator.
SkyCool Systems
We save millions of dollars in AC and refrigeration costs all while helping save the environment
SkyCool Systems developed a passive rooftop cooling panel, enabled by a patented optical film that cools when outside exposed to the sky. Over their lifetime, our panels save millions of dollars worth of electricity and water when integrated with air conditioning and refrigeration systems.
Solstice Energy Solutions
IoT+software for intelligent management of distributed energy resources
Solstice Energy Solutions is an energy technology company that develops IoT and software solutions to intelligently manage distributed energy resources but with a focus on cities in emerging markets where unreliable grids have demanded the use of distributed, back-up power solutions. Their foundation technology, the Solstice SHYFT is a groundbreaking remote energy management solution that allows homes and businesses to monitor, manage and control all of their energy resources from a mobile or web app while Solstice uses the data in real-time to optimize for cost, reliability and reduced emissions.
Sunfolding
New machines for cheaper, easier solar power.
Sunfolding is fueling the future of smart solar with simpler technology. We reinvisioned how solar trackers harness energy, making solar power plants easier to install and smarter to operate. Our approach replaces dozens of high wear components typically used in a machine, including motors, gearboxes, torque-tubes, bearings, and more, with a single non-wear maintenance-free part: the AirDrive. Our approach reduces components, streamlines installation, and maximizes land usage – power plants built with sunfolding install 3x faster and are built to last for decades nearly maintenance-free.
Sunvapor
Solar industrial process heat technology and deployment
At Sunvapor, we strive to protect the environment, create economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities, and change the perception about the reach of solar energy. We protect the environment by eliminating a significant portion of the 10 million tonnes of greenhouse gas and 10 thousand tonnes of criteria pollutants emitted annually in California in the combustion of 50,000 GWh of natural gas in industrial boilers. Sunvapor steam can also be used to recover agricultural irrigation water that is high in salt content and cannot be cleaned using reverse osmosis. We empower workers in the rural Central Valley of California by creating economic opportunities in a new solar steam economy, and by protecting the existing industrial economy by providing solutions to State-imposed limits on greenhouse gas emissions. We broaden the perception about the reach of solar energy by developing a market for solar (thermal) steam generation for industrial heating and electricity cogeneration. For the same energy yield, PV panels occupy four times the land of our solar thermal steam technology. Sunvapor has received three U.S. Department of Energy Awards: for a low-cost solar collector, for thermal energy storage so that steam can be produced at night, and for robotic collector assembly.
Sylvan Source
More energy efficient and cost effective water treatment
Sylvan Source (SSI) is an industrial systems company with fundamental advantages in thermal energy efficiency, capital costs and operating costs. Initial applications targeted are water treatment (SSI Core) and thermal energy recovery and re-use (SSI TERA). The SSI Core seamlessly integrates distilling, degassing and demisting technologies into a single system. SSI utilizes a proprietary thermal energy transfer system that enables a GOR (Gain Output Ratio) 3-4 times better than what can be achieved with conventional heat exchanger technologies. Independent, comprehensive analyses placed SSI in the range of 40-50% lower CapEx and OpEx compared to the next closest competitors in all industrial applications independently benchmarked. The SSI Core's physical footprint is 50-75% smaller than the next closest competitors with a very simple configuration, minimal moving parts and no high-pressure pumps. SSI conducted a successful field trial in Summer 2018 with Southern California Edison and is close to receiving its first orders. The first commercial deployments for the SSI Core are planned for mid-2019. SSI TERA allows energy to be moved quickly, with minimal losses from one part of an industrial plant to another such as excess energy in the flue to pre-heaters on the cold side of a power plant.
Tandem PV
High-efficiency PV To Turbocharge Solar Profitability and Impact
Tandem PV is a local start-up commercializing high-efficiency, low-cost tandem photovoltaic (PV) solar. The $100 billion global PV industry provides clean reliable locally-produced electricity and is growing rapidly as energy economics shift demand away from traditional fuels and toward lower-cost PV-generated power. However, PV is increasingly commoditized, PV supplier margins are low, and PV technologies are nearing their efficiency and cost limits.The key to increasing profits and accelerating industry growth rates is to increase sunlight-to-electricity efficiency. Tandem PV has unique high efficiency technologies in which two solar cells operate in tandem, boosting the output power by 50% or more and decreasing the cost of electricity by 20-40%. Tandem PV can make high-power tandem panels at about the same $/W cost as typical PV panels, and PV systems installers – e.g. Vivint, Sunrun, etc. – say that they will pay twice the typical $/W price for these panels. Tandem PV is led by Colin Bailie – a world-leading expert in tandem solar cell technology – and Chris Eberspacher – a pioneer in scaling and commercialization of thin-film PV.
Utility API
Creating the standardized data infrastructure for the new energy economy
Every day, millions of homes and businesses generate data related to their energy usage. But most of the data gets locked up in individual utilities and other organizations. UtilityAPI helps free that data. Founded in 2014, UtilityAPI is an enterprise software company with the mission of creating a secure and standardized data infrastructure for the new energy economy. Its software facilitates best-in-class data exchange services for utilities and other energy service providers across the United States. UtilityAPI’s customers depend on its services to unlock and measure the impact of energy saving opportunities. Companies who use UtilityAPI can organize, share, and analyze data nearly instantly. Developers can make better apps. Businesses can make smarter decisions. Homeowners can save more money. And we all have a better shot at beating back climate change.
Verdigris
Smart building management using IoT energy meters, AI, and automation
Verdigris is an AI-powered smart building management platform that optimizes energy consumption for organizations. We’ve developed advanced sensor technology that can be quickly and easily installed into any building’s electrical panels to get granular data down to the circuit level. Our proprietary AI algorithms enrich the data streams, and analytics reveal clear actions to take to increase the efficiency and reliability of the electrically-run equipment in the building. Adaptive Automation takes those insights one step further, learning the energy patterns of a building and implementing controls to save money effortlessly. Verdigris helps customers make smart decisions about energy, so they can save money, reduce risk, and decrease their carbon footprint.
WeaveGrid
A software company that builds data products to enable the electric transportation transition
WeaveGrid is a leading software company that builds data products to enable increased adoption of electric vehicles. WeaveGrid solves one of the most critical transportation electrification challenges — connecting a growing wave of electric vehicles to a grid that was not designed to support the high power needs of widespread charging. WeaveGrid accelerates the transition of the transportation and energy industries into one connected system, all the while ensuring that it is clean, equitable, and resilient. Our software transforms unpredictable and disaggregated EV charging loads into a cohesive network of controllable and valuable grid assets. We use cutting edge data science and optimization to bring value to all stakeholders in this transition, including utilities, automakers, and drivers.
XStream Trucking
Smart aerodynamics for long haul trucking
XStream Trucking (Trucklabs) is changing the way people think about trucking. Our first product the TruckWings™ is the industry first active-aero product for trucks. At highway speeds, panels fold out to close the tractor trailer gap saving fuel and giving a smoother ride for drivers. The TruckWings are in production and installed in several 5,000+ truck fleets with over a million road miles of tests. As for what’s next, the TruckWings™ are powered by our proprietary CarbonConnect™ platform. Think of this as a IoT platform for trucks or a “Nest for Trucking”.