Canadian startup working on heat pump for cold climates

A Canadian startup by the name of Terravis Energy is working on a prototype heat pump that is optimized for cold climates. While heat pumps are a “no brainer” in sub-tropical environments, homeowners in colder regions tend to be more hesitant to switch out of fear of being “left out in the cold”.

While the company is still in the R&D phase, you can read more here to learn about the technology and approach.

US Dept. of Energy funds DAC Projects

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $1.2 billion to advance the development of two commercial-scale direct air capture facilities in Texas and Louisiana. These projects—the first of this scale in the United States—represent the initial selections from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-funded Regional Direct Air Capture (DAC) Hubs program, which aims to kickstart a nationwide network of large-scale carbon removal sites

Read more: https://www.energy.gov/articles/biden-harris-administration-announces-12-billion-nations-first-direct-air-capture

London becoming a hub for climate tech

Europe continues to press ahead with it’s leadership in climate technology. According to City A.M, London has raised almost $28b worth of climate tech investment. Most recently, Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy has partnered with the UK to increase investment by $276M. However, climate tech remains just a fraction of overall venture and private equity investment; this calculus will need to change to fund more innovation and experimentation around cutting-edge technologies that rapidly reduce CO2.

Stripe adds new companies to Climate product

Stripe announced today that they added six new companies to their carbon removal portfolio. Readers of this site will be familiar with Running Tide, as this is one of the six.

Here is the full list of companies being added:

  • CarbonBuilt
  • Heirloom
  • Seachange
  • Mission Zero
  • The Future Forest Company
  • Running Tide

Stripe is providing $2.75M to these companies, and up to $5.25M if certain goals are met. Stripe is one of the few tech companies enabling their customers to reduce carbon emissions through a core feature of their product, helping enable a market for carbon offsets.

Running Tide harnesses the power of the ocean to remove carbon

Running Tide is an exciting startup I stumbled upon while researching how Fintech companies are innovating to reduce our carbon footprint. According to their website, Running Tide develops technologies focused on three key areas important for carbon reduction:

  1. Rebuilding Food Systems: Modernizing shellfish farming to enable more scalable oyster production. Oysters are 99% less carbon emitting than traditional livestock production.
  2. Carbon Removal: Perhaps the most potent of their technologies, Running Tide can accelerate the carbon cycle by sequestering carbon using sea kelp that sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
  3. Coastal Rebuilding: Rebuilding food systems means “rewinding” the coastal habitats.

While the business model is unclear, the firm cites a few notable investors and VCs backing them up. I’ll be interested in following their path to growth!