Manik Suri is a Harvard grad from Delhi who worked both on Wall Street and in the Obama White House. But it’s in a palm-sized, radio-controlled device that can control temperatures in industrial cooling systems that he sees his future.
More than 16% of the estimated 50 billion tons of greenhouse gases emitted by global economies comes from electricity used in buildings, including industrial ones. Cooling systems are a prime culprit. By reducing temperatures and saving electricity at scale, energy efficiency can greatly reduce emissions.
But at long range, those frequencies can’t operate well through refrigerator walls and doors. Therma cracked this issue using long-range radio waves to transmit from its monitors to a router directly to phone apps. The technology makes it possible for large industrial customers like restaurants or supermarkets to monitor temperatures from afar and be ready to act in case of brownouts or equipment failure.
“It’s archaic,” said Ardith Alexander, marketing director at Therma, describing the current state of cooling. “Everyone wants to work on EVs, but the real problem is the massive food waste and emissions that all these old assets are driving.” By dynamically controlling cooling temperatures at such large operations, Suri imagines a system where companies can work with struggling electric grids to control usage, and costs, during down hours.