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Earlier this summer, a Silicon Valley startup called Dandelion was born out of Alphabet’s X Labs. Dandelion hopes to popularize an aging and dusty, but energy-saving, technology—that is, ground-based heat pumps. On Thursday, the company released more details on how it plans to finish its first 2017.
Dandelion’s pitch to customers and investors is that it has developed new drilling equipment and techniques that will allow it to drill 400-foot holes in a residential yard in a fraction of the time it would take for drilling companies. the heat of the older land to grow. do the same. But, in August, the company has some details on the internal half of the system (that is, the half that actually works within your home).
Today, Dandelion announced a partnership with a local geothermal energy company in New York called Aztech. Together, they hope to iron out some more useful details on how a tech startup will deploy complex infrastructure in residential buildings. The division of labor is like this: Dandelion will drill holes in the ground, and Aztech will inspect the house and install outdoor pipes to the work of the existing house. The heat pump is a large cabinet made by a a company called WaterFurnace– will provide heat and cooling during the winter and summer months.
Aztech is the first company that Dandelion has agreed to partner with. In other areas, another local agency may take over. In each region that the company expands to, “the indoor part of the installation will be contracted to the local audience, eliminating this work and helping local companies to grow their business,” Dandelion said in a press release. .
The startup’s VP of marketing, Katie Ullmann, said Dandelion will install 25 to 30 systems throughout September and October in upstate New York. Each of the installations, he said, will take a couple of days to complete. Any other customers who sign up for a Dandelion plan after the first 25 to 30 installations will receive their plan after the winter is over.
The company linked to Google is an interesting case not because it tries to make ground-based heat pumps cool, but because the company’s executives have talked about how they are trying to bring the There are marketing lessons from other big tech companies to home upgrades. . In an interview with Ars last month, the company’s CTO, James Quazi, said that some of Dandelion’s employees already work for Solar City, and he hopes to build on their success by selling ground-based heating systems in the a well-defined geographical area where the economy. make undigious sense. After that, the company will move to other areas.
Likewise, Dandelion seems to be taking a page out of Tesla’s book with how it installs its plumbing system. Just as Tesla has worked through a number of third-party installers to sell its Powerwall batteries to customers, Dandelion appears to be deferring to more experienced companies when it comes to hooking the new product. that is attractive to people’s homes.
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