Keeping homes and offices at the right temperature requires a lot of energy. Buildings generate about a third of carbon pollution in the United States, most of which comes from heating and cooling.
Bedrock Energy, co-founded by Jocelyn Lai, believes it has found at least a partial solution. The startup seeks to decarbonize climate control by installing geothermal heat pumps. Today it focuses on large commercial buildings, but the core technology could drive almost any HVAC system.
Lai appeared on TechCrunch’s Found to discuss her company and her hopes for reducing the cost of proven technology to address the climate crisis.
Early adopters of Bedrock included real estate companies with net-zero goals, Lai said. In the Northeast, the company is working with Con Ed to help reduce electricity demand. The company drills up to 2,000 feet below the Earth’s surface to exploit temperatures that consistently hover around 75 to 85 degrees F. In the future, it may also expand to serve residential customers.
Lai decided to help launch Bedrock in 2020 because she believed there was a greater need for sustainable startups focused on decarbonization.
“Geothermal heating and cooling has been around for a very long time,” she said. “The fact that this technology is aimed at scaling something so cool and so efficient and so beneficial to society, and there’s no real risk as to whether it works or not, it makes sense. It’s just about how to build technology that makes it more efficient in more buildings, more affordable, more available to many building owners.
Fundraising has been easy for Bedrock, in part because interest in climate technology remains constant, Lai said. Last October, TechCrunch reported that the company had raised an $8.5 million seed round.
In the podcast, Lai also recalled the ups and downs of being a first-time founder, learning about the importance of hiring top talent, investing in good software, and building a strong engineering team . Its first recruits came from the oil and gas industry, who were able to bring their expertise in underground energy modeling to the company. They have been key additions to the team, and their transition to climate technology shows how talent from existing industries can contribute to decarbonization in the United States and around the world.
techcrunch
