- By NYSERDA
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Alicia Barton, President and CEO, NYSERDA, said , "This new technology is a game-changer for the clean heating and cooling industry, and will significantly help scale up the number of homes using geothermal systems, which is critical to meeting Governor Cuomo's nation-leading clean energy goals. We applaud forward-thinking companies such as Dandelion for bringing their cost-effective and innovative solutions to the marketplace, expanding consumer options and helping us reduce harmful emissions and stewarding the environment for generations to come."
"Dandelion Energy's mission is to make geothermal available and affordable for everyone. Our new Sonic Drill Suite expands access to cleaner, more affordable home heating and cooling. That's good for our planet and our economy," said James Quazi, Co-Founder and CTO of Dandelion Energy. "We've focused on developing technology that lowers cost, increases speed, and reduces the size and disperses the weight of the drilling equipment so more people can access this vital clean technology."
Geothermal systems operate by harnessing the Earth's year-round, stable ground temperature as a heating and cooling source. During the winter, heat is extracted from the ground through an underground pipe system and distributed throughout the building via a compressor and circulation pumps. In the summer, the process is reversed and the cooler ground temperatures are tapped into. Dandelion's innovative new Sonic Drill Suite technology reduces the time it takes to install geothermal systems from up to one week to one day. In addition, the Sonic Drill Suite's smaller design enables installations at homes where traditional, larger drilling equipment cannot be used, thereby expanding access to 25 percent more locations throughout New York. Dandelion has already successfully used the technology on several homes throughout New York.
This new technology was developed and tested by Dandelion as part of NYSERDA's Next Generation Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Innovation Challenges, which support clean energy companies looking to develop, commercialize and demonstrate new technologies for HVAC systems. Dandelion's drilling research and development aims to reduce the cost of drilling by up to 50 percent, resulting in reductions of the overall cost of installing geothermal for New York homeowners by approximately 20 percent. As part of NYSERDA's award, a third-party measurement and verification firm will study the technology against conventional drilling to understand the level of cost reduction that can be achieved in the field today. Based on initial learnings, the second part of the grant will support Dandelion to further advance their innovative technology in pursuit of further efficiencies and cost reductions.
NYSERDA's Next Generation HVAC Innovation Challenges aim to improve the performance of advanced HVAC systems and create new economically viable opportunities for energy efficiency in buildings. More than a dozen feasibility studies, as well as product development and demonstration projects have already been funded and are underway. NYSERDA announced the most recent round of these Innovation Challenges several weeks ago. A report released earlier this year by the Department of Energy found that technology improvements could enable more than 28 million U.S. households to adopt the use of geothermal heat pumps.
In addition to participating in the Next Generation HVAC Innovation Challenges, Dandelion Energy is a graduate NYSERDA's clean energy incubator, ACRE, located in New York City.
The heating and cooling of buildings is currently responsible for roughly one third of the greenhouse gas emissions in New York State, and is a key focal area of the State's climate action. Importantly, improving energy efficiency in buildings will further reduce carbon pollution and help achieve the State's New Efficiency: New York target of reducing on-site energy consumption by 185 TBtu by 2025, equivalent to the energy annually consumed by 1.8 million homes.
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