6.15.23-STEX-CA-Transaera

SPEAKER: Thank you. Welcome back. This is the second session-- [INAUDIBLE] talks. And we'll start with Transaera. It's an innovative cooling system and coating, with also an impact on energy savings.

ROSS BONNER: Can you hear it? Test. OK.

Transaera is reimagining air conditioning to be more efficient and more affordable for those who need it most. Our team has deep roots at MIT. Our CEO, Sorin, is an STM grad. Our chief scientist, Mircea, is a professor of chemistry at MIT. And I did my thesis work at MIT in mechanical engineering, studying desiccant-based cooling systems at high efficiency.

Transaera believes that air conditioning is both a climate issue and an equity issue. Transaera--

SPEAKER: A little closer. Yeah, perfect.

ROSS BONNER: Globally, air conditioning accounts for about 4% of climate emissions-- of carbon emissions, which is about twice the size of aviation. However, in India, only about 7% of the population can afford air conditioning. And that's not because of the upfront cost of devices. It's because of the recurring cost of electricity due to the low efficiency of AC devices in hot and humid climates.

The intersection of these two problems is the core mission of Transaera. We believe that if we can substantially improve the efficiency of AC, we can both, make positive change for climate and improve the lives of billions of people who need it most.

So a secret that we've uncovered is that humidity is critical to human comfort, but it's the Achilles heel of efficiency in AC systems today. And that's because of the way that they remove moisture. Today's systems remove moisture by cooling the air below the dew point. This accounts for as much as half of the total power consumption of the device. It's a super inefficient process. And it's a big limiting factor for today's AC.

Transaera does things differently. We use Metal Organic Frameworks, or MOFs, which are nanoscale-- which have nanoscale features and extremely high internal surface areas, allowing them to pull moisture directly from the air without cooling below the dew point. This enables game-changing efficiency savings and utilizes HVAC hardware that's already scaled up to commodity scale, enabling cost-competitive, step-change efficiency improvements.

So here's a simple comparison. Today's AC, you bring warm air over a frigid coil, and the result is water dripping out of the coil and outlet air that's uncomfortable. Right? You've probably all experienced this. You go to a restaurant. It's hot outside. But you're sitting directly under the duct, and you're freezing cold. I heard somebody say maybe they're feeling like that today.

[LAUGHTER]

Transaera makes a simple change, which has a big impact. We apply our metal organic frameworks as a coating directly onto the coil. And that allows us to run at a much more comfortable temperature and not collect water. So the result is outlet air that is cool and comfortable.

These savings are possible because of our patented architecture. So we apply the coating to both heat exchangers in an AC and then configure them so that they can reverse roles. So while one heat exchanger is cooling and drying the air, the other is using heat that would otherwise be wasted to dry out and prepare for the next cycle. We then just cycle between those two. And in this way, we cool and dehumidify the space.

And we use components that are already, again, scaled up in the HVAC space, which means that this process can apply from the smallest residential scale all the way up to the largest commercial ACs. And we're demonstrating that. We're building prototypes both at the small residential scale and large commercial units. At residential scale, we have a portable AC prototype that has already demonstrated 30% energy savings over best-in-class portable AC in our lab testing.

And we're working with our partners at Carrier to pilot a rooftop unit which is commercial scale, much larger unit, that will be tested by the end of this year. These units operate as heat pumps, which is a differentiating factor between us and other emerging technologies. We're looking for manufacturing partners to help us scale up the technology and pilot customers to prove it out in the field. If either of those sound like you, or you're interested in learning more, find me after the session. Thank you.