Energy Innovation from Hawai’i to Houston

Nine early-stage ventures in Village Capital’s Energy: US 2016 program are solving energy efficiency challenges across the goods value chain, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving the fuel economy

The long-haul freight trucks cruising down the highway — emblazoned with corporate logos and slogans — have a big impact on our planet’s health.

The energy used in transportation is the second largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the US — behind only electricity. And those medium-to-heavy-duty trucks, though they only make up only 7 percent of vehicles on US highways, make up 18 percent of CO2 emissions from transportation.

Meanwhile, transportation and logistics costs push up the price of food, water, and other essentials. According to the US Department of Agriculture, if diesel prices increased by 100 percent, the price of wholesale produce would increase in the short term by an average of 20–28 percent.

We can do better. Policy leaders have signaled the importance of addressing energy efficiency in transportation — with recently proposed heavy duty vehicle GHG emissions and fuel efficiency standards that would cut GHG emissions by an estimated 1 billion metric tons by 2027 — but we believe that both the public and private sector have a role to play. This Fall, with support from the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, we’re excited to support nine innovative early-stage companies that are solving energy inefficiencies across the goods value chain, with a specific focus on transportation and logistics.

Our program, Village Capital Energy: US 2016, will provide these entrepreneurs with the training and funding opportunities they need to grow and scale their businesses. These startups are using hardware and software to solve critical issues in the transportation-energy nexus: improving fuel efficiency for trucks, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy storage and generation, and developing other innovations to solve energy inefficiencies.

Improving fuel efficiency & reducing GHG emissions

Several of our ventures offer solutions that improve fuel efficiency, reduce idling time, and lower GHG gas emissions for medium- to heavy-duty trucks. Optimus Technologies’ biodiesel fuel systems for heavy-duty commercial vehicles enable fleets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions over 80 percent while providing at least a 10 percent reduction in fuel price. Blackburn Energy makes a power unit for long haul trucks that eliminates idle time and turns trucks into platforms that create store and deliver renewable power.

Idle Smart provides an idle reduction and fleet uptime solution for Class 8 fleets that can reduce unnecessary fuel usage by only running the truck when absolutely necessary to heat/cool the cabin, recharge batteries, or create engine warmth. XStream Trucking produces the GapGorilla, a hardware device which eliminates the gap between the tractor and the trailer in combination trucks and increases their fuel efficiency.

Solving challenges in energy storage

Others are solving challenges in energy storage for electric vehicles, commercial buildings, and other applications. Shifted Energy’s design software and IoT hardware transforms water heaters into renewable energy storage systems. Their technology aggregates a fleet of water heaters to pre-heat water when excess renewables are on the grid effectively storing excess renewables at a tenth of the price of comparable storage alternatives. Shifted Energy is also an Energy Excelerator 2014 Go-to-market company and 2015 Demonstration company. Elegus Technologies uses nanotechnology to enable safer, longer lasting batteries. Their Kevlar-based separators are thinner and stronger than plastic, so they can increase energy density by an estimated 10–15 percent without compromising safety. Elegus’ next-generation separator materials for batteries can be applied to everything from electric vehicles to consumer electronics.

Developing innovative power generation solutions

M-TriGen and Energy Intelligence are developing innovative power generation solutions. M-TriGen manufacturers power systems that replace conventional electrical sources with modular combined cooling, heating, and power generators that use waste heat and ambient atmospheric energy to operate at 200 percent or greater efficiencies. Their direct vapor compression technology uses up to four times less natural gas than power plants in meeting the load demand for customers, and can control other sources of power such as batteries and solar panels. Energy Intelligence has patented and developed an innovative system to turn the motion of vehicles into electricity at high-traffic facilities, such as border crossings, distribution centers, and parking garages. The hydraulic-based technology lies flat on roads and harnesses the kinetic energy from braking vehicles to directly power equipment onsite (behind the meter) and reduce facilities’ electricity expenses up to 50 percent.

Tackling challenges across the goods value chain

ATC is tackling challenges across the logistics and goods value chain with improvements in agricultural production. ATC addresses drivetrain efficiency in agricultural vehicles through modern diesel-electric technology. They are developing autonomous navigation, implement management, and safety technology to work with the diesel-electric drivetrain, saving farmers time and money while improving fuel efficiency.

These nine ventures are addressing critical energy challenges and are helping to create a sustainable future. We are thrilled to support these entrepreneurs with Village Capital’s award-winning venture development curriculum, the sponsorship of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, and the expert opinion and perspective of investors. At the end of the Village Capital Energy: US 2016 program, VilCap Investments in collaboration with New Belgium Family Foundation and Sustainable America, will invest up to $125,000 each in the two ventures that have been selected for investment by their peers.

Please welcome Village Capital’s Energy: US 2016 cohort:

ATC — Kraig Schulz — St. Michael, MN

Blackburn Energy — Andrew Amigo — Cambridge, MA

Elegus Technologies — John Hennessy & Long Qian — Ann Arbor, MI

Energy Intelligence — Daniel Stani, Nissim Shani & Melinda Sims — Buffalo, NY

Idle Smart — Jeff Lynch — Kansas City, KS

M-TriGen — John Abraham & Donald Williams — Houston, TX

Optimus Technologies — Colin Huwyler — Pittsburgh, PA

Shifted Energy — Olin Lagon — Honolulu, HI

XStream Trucking — Daniel Burrows — Redwood City, CA