Announcing the Winners of the 2018 Renewable Thermal Alliance Seed Innovation Grant

The Renewable Thermal Alliance (RTA) is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s RTA Seed Innovation Grant. By providing $20,000 to each of the four winners, the grant will support novel approaches to supporting low-carbon heating and cooling markets and technologies.

“There is no better evidence than the breadth and quality of this year’s applicants to demonstrate how a grant like this is just what’s needed to spur renewable thermal market innovation,” said Stuart DeCew, Executive Director at the Yale Center for Business and the Environment, which manages the grant. “I’m excited to see what next year holds.”

Though heating and cooling in the U.S. accounted respectively for 65 percent and 24 percent of energy delivered to residential and commercial customers in 2015, the sector remains dominated by the use of fossil fuels. Renewable thermal technologies (RTTs) offer more sustainable alternatives. The winners of this year’s grant, each in their own way, promise to help expand the market for RTTs, which remains hobbled by unfavorable economics, low public awareness, lack of affordable financing, and an immature industry.

Recipients of the RTA Seed Innovation Grant include:

  1. A carbon cost calculator that will readily provide residential and business owners the cost savings and reduced greenhouse gas impacts associated with the installation of a renewable heating and cooling systems. Primary applicant: Clean Energy States Alliance.
  2. A tool to help regional planners model and compare the effects of different renewable thermal technologies on greenhouse gas emissions, electricity demand, and economics, among other factors. Ideally, this tool will provide the evidence needed for states to embrace thermal technologies. Primary applicant: UMass Clean Energy Extension.
  3. A web platform for the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, that will allow residents to request and compare quotes from qualified installers of renewable thermal technologies. Energy Sage, which provides online quotes for solar installers, will be a project partner. Primary applicant: City of Cambridge.
  4. A regional data clearinghouse known as oTherm that will standardize renewable thermal energy data and best practices in New England. This will assist with the objective evaluation of technology performance and risk along with promising new business models. The data will be made available to the public. Primary applicant: University of New Hampshire.

Please join us on December 11 at 11:00 a.m. ET as we present the winners of this year’s RTA Seed Innovation Grant. You will also be able to view the event online (advance registration required).

Awarded every fall, the RTA Seed Innovation Grant was created with the support of NYSERDA and Connecticut Green Bank; it is managed by the Yale Center for Business and the Environment to support innovations that build market platforms for low carbon heating and cooling technologies. Visit the homepage for more information, or contact Stuart DeCew: stuart.decew@yale.edu.