2024 Climate Tech Pitch Finale

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Archer Power Solutions is a start-up that’s reimagining the air-conditioner, creating energy-efficient, DC-powered products that leverage off-grid, clean energy and battery solutions while creating a much-needed cooling. Archer Power Solutions is focused on air conditioning for residential, marine, RV and off-grid living markets.
CURRENT HIGHLIGHTS: Air conditioners are a major contributor to global warming with GHG emissions growing by 3 times because of continued global demand. Traditional air conditioning units are large, energy-inefficient and rely on utility-grade alternating current as the energy source. Archer Power Solutions is utilizing smaller, distributed units with 1/3 of the refrigerant needed by conventional units, thanks to its advanced electronics and software. The company is going after the annual $8 Billion US residential air conditioning market and already developed the Kingfisher MA37X12B – a 12VDC-powered, energy-efficient ‘drop in’ marine air conditioning system that takes stress off the grid thanks to its proprietary, patent-pending electronics. The innovative technology has already found success and has other applications currently in development. Powered by the vessel’s DC battery system or on-board solar panels, the Kingfisher MA37X12B boasts simple DIY installation, an easy-to-operate control panel, and uses fresh or seawater to dehumidify and cool below-deck living space. 

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The market for sustainable materials was almost $300 Billion in 2022 and growing by over 10% every year driven by factors of consumer preference and regulations which allows natural constructive materials firms to charge a premium. J.J. Innovations has developed prototypes for drywall and wall tiles that are 95% made of sustainable ingredients or recycled by-products of existing industries like industrial hemp, pumice powder, hydrated lime, and fly ash. JJ Innovative Materials uses these sustainable materials in a process that does not require heating or cooling or any additional toxic chemical additives for fire/mold resistance, reducing the environmental footprint of industrial production. JJ Innovative Materials have made a carbon-negative construction material that sequesters carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for each product they make.

CURRENT HIGHLIGHTS: JJ Innovation has sales and proven product-market fit from their e-commerce site. The patent on their technology is the company is currently looking for a manufacturing site in Baltimore. 3 John Hopkins engineers and scientists found the team 3 John Hopkins engineers and scientists.

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Over the last couple of years there has been exciting news about the potential to produce Fusion Energy. A safe carbon-free energy source for the future. There are major concerns about the time to get a commercial reactor up and running and the potential costs of such a reactor. Terra Fusion has been researching its technology for 15 years and has come up with a technology that will generate a competitive energy source through plasma confinement at thermonuclear conditions to gain net energy from fusion energy. Terra Fusion approach has simplified the approach by developing a centrifugal supersonic magnetic mirror. This design will deliver a simple magnetic confinement configuration that can scale to a viable fusion power source at a fraction of the cost of competing technologies. 

CURRENT HIGHLIGHTS: Terra Fusion was founded by Professor Carlos A. Romero Talamás whose research has focused on plasma physics and engineering applied to fusion energy, including high temperature plasma confinement, low temperature dusty plasmas, and magnet technology. The University of Maryland Baltimore County has a grant from the ARPA-E Bethe program and the Terra Fusion technology is currently being tested at the University of Maryland College Park

Executive Summary: Fume hood energy waste is estimated to cost the US $1.5 billion annually. Current solutions are hard to deploy, expensive, and even unsafe. Sustainabli has created a "Fitbit for labs", allowing facility and sustainability managers to monitor and incentivize safer and more energy-efficient fume hood use.  

Current Highlights: Sustainabli completed the MEIA Pre-Accelerator in 2021 and won the 2023 Pitch Dingman Competition and 2023 Do Good Challenge, the two premier pitch competitions at the University of Maryland. 

Sustainabli was founded by Kevin Tu, an alumnus of the University of Maryland and a Churchill Scholar at the University of Cambridge with a background in computational biology.