Tierra Climate on Energy Tech Startups

08/08/23 • 61 min

This week we sat down with Emma Konet, co-founder and CTO of Tierra Climate to discuss how her startup is decarbonizing the grid by creating a new revenue stream for grid-scale batteries. Tierra Climate has a proprietary algorithm to estimate and certify how batteries can shift power from the grid during periods of low carbon production to supplant producers who are carbon-intensive. They anticipate issuing carbon credits to companies that want to offset their emissions. Emma provides an inside look at how she and her co-founder are building a marketplace to accelerate the energy transition by making batteries an attractive grid asset. She shares insights from her experience in energy trading and the battery industry, fundraising challenges, and key learnings from participating in competitions like the Rice Business Plan Competition. Emma explains how Houston has been an ideal launchpad for Tierra Climate as a hub bridging energy markets and climate solutions.

Key topics covered:

How grid-scale batteries help enable renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions
Challenges of making batteries economically viable on the grid
Creating a new carbon offset methodology for grid batteries
Partnering with data providers on emissions factors
Getting practical pitch experience through competitions like RBPC
Fundraising challenges for hard tech climate startups
Building diverse founding teams with complementary skills
Navigating energy regulations and carbon verification
Houston as a hub for energy innovation

Get in touch: Company Website: www.tierraclimate.com

CEO & Co-founder Jacob Mansfield: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-r-mansfield/

CTO & Co-Founder Emma Konet: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmajohnsonkonet/

Find Emma on Twitter or X? @koneticenergy Her personal website is www.koneticenergy.com

Tierra Climate partners with REsurety, which provides emissions data for the power grid. https://resurety.com/ and https://www.linkedin.com/company/resurety/
Whitepaper: Charging Towards Zero: https://www.tierraclimate.com/resources

Digital Wildcatters brings the energy community together through events, cutting-edge content, and powerful tools. Join our online community at collide.io. Engage with experts, level up your career, and ask Collide AI your toughest technical questions.

Key topics covered:

How grid-scale batteries help enable renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions
Challenges of making batteries economically viable on the grid
Creating a new carbon offset methodology for grid batteries
Partnering with data providers on emissions factors
Getting practical pitch experience through competitions like RBPC
Fundraising challenges for hard tech climate startups
Building diverse founding teams with complementary skills
Navigating energy regulations and carbon verification
Houston as a hub for energy innovation

Get in touch: Company Website: www.tierraclimate.com

CEO & Co-founder Jacob Mansfield: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-r-mansfield/

CTO & Co-Founder Emma Konet: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmajohnsonkonet/

Find Emma on Twitter or X? @koneticenergy Her personal website is www.koneticenergy.com

Previous Episode

ClimaGuard on Energy Tech Startups

This week we sit down with Rahel Abraham, CEO of ClimaGuard, a company dedicated to creating ultra-extreme weather protection systems for vehicles and other valuable assets. Rahel shares her personal experience with Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which inspired her to use her engineering skills to create solutions for climate-related challenges. Despite facing numerous setbacks, including supply chain disruptions and the complexities of managing an e-commerce business, Rahel persevered. ClimaGuard has been successful, selling out in 2022 and expanding its product range to meet varied customer needs. Rahel also shares her experiences of being part of the Houston business ecosystem and the support she received from entrepreneurship programs like Div Inc. The episode concludes with a discussion on the importance of preparing for climate change and investing in protection for one's assets.

ClimaGuard is an innovative company created by a Hurricane Survivor offering the ultimate extreme weather protection for vehicles and other valuable assets. Weather protection from flood, rain, snow, UV, and dust is possible with our reusable and portable Temporary Protective Enclosure.

Discount code for your first Climaguard: CGSAVE30 for $30 off Always free shipping.

Learn more:
https://www.climaguard.co/[email protected]

https://www.facebook.com/ClimaGuardLLC

https://twitter.com/climaguard

https://www.instagram.com/climaguard_llc

https://www.linkedin.com/company/14060727

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq2g1uMMEZHdpwCRQ

Rahel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahel-abraham-b6a91516b/

Next Episode

EarthBridge Energy on Energy Tech Startups

In this episode, we're joined by Derek Adams and Gus Perez from EarthBridge Energy, a tech startup revolutionizing long-duration energy storage. Combining elements from oil and gas, geothermal energy, and renewable sources, EarthBridge aims to solve the problem of energy waste due to the mismatch between renewable energy supply and demand. Their novel approach uses the earth itself as a storage media and has been validated by three National Labs. With a focus on commercial scalability, the team discusses the challenges and opportunities in the energy storage landscape.

Introduction of Guests and Company: Derek Adams and Gus Perez from EarthBridge Energy talk about their startup, which is developing a long-duration energy storage technology to help transition to a net-zero future.
Technology Overview: EarthBridge combines aspects of oil and gas, geothermal energy storage, and 24/7 renewable energy. Their system can store vast amounts of energy for very long periods, and can uniquely and economically store power over months vs. hours.
The Importance of Long-Duration Storage: With increasing reliance on intermittent renewables like wind and solar, EarthBridge's long-duration storage technology is essential for maintaining a stable grid and minimizing energy waste.
Importance of Storage: The technology aims to make renewable energy more reliable by storing it for extended periods, thereby stabilizing the grid.
Regulatory and Investment Landscape: The team is navigating through investment tax credits and regulatory constraints, and they are in the middle of fundraising discussions to take their technology to market.
Location and Community: The founders chose to base their startup in Houston due to the strong energy community and the city's history with oil and gas, which they see as an asset for their renewable energy-focused startup.

https://www.earthbridgeenergy.com/