30-50% Energy Reduction

In 2010, residential and commercial buildings consumed 11.7 and 8.7 quads of energy, of which 8.2 (70%) and 3.8 (43%) quads of energy were consumed for HVAC and DHW purposes, all respectively. With the ThermoLift system, improvements in efficiency equate to significant energy savings, expected up to 50%.

Fuel Agnostic

Current generation and transmission processes are an inefficient use of energy resources, thus it is important to integrate different methods to reduce the future demand of electricity. As a heat driven heat pump, rather than an electric heat pump, other fuels such as natural gas, propane, fuel oil, or even solar can be used for HVAC.

Sizing/Simple Retrofit Device

ThermoLift combines three systems into one eliminating the amount of space needed for building HVAC. Our targeted system will provide up to 25 kW of heating capacity and 12 kW of cooling capacity; enough to meet the HVAC demand of an average sized home or small commercial building, approximately 2,500 square feet.

Smaller Footprint

At an estimated dry weight of 300 lb. and with dimensions of approximately 36 in. H × 24 in. W × 24 in. D for an 80,000 Btu/hr (~25 kW) machine, ThermoLift’s 3-in-1 system will have comparable weight and a smaller footprint compared to existing HVAC equipment.

Utilities

Natural Gas for Cooling

Currently, electric-driven HVAC systems experience as much as 70% loses during primary energy generation and end-use distribution. ThermoLift will use natural gas as its primary fuel instead of electricity, resulting in improved resiliency in the event of a power outage and will lessen the burden on the electric grid.

Reduced Water Use

Water consumption, particularly indirect water use at electricity or natural gas facilities, will be reduced proportionately. In 2014, power plants used 38% of the freshwater in the US; over 3 times the total domestic and commercial water usage.

Response Demand

The ThermoLift system will be fully programmable to adjust to user preferences, enabling consumers to control the heating or cooling output of the system from home or abroad. ThermoLift will offer utilities and consumers the ability to track and monitor fuel consumption by using a smart-grid interface to optimize system performance.

Industrial Applications

Dairy Production

Milk pasteurization and product processing use both heating and cooling during various stages from beginning to end. Pasteurization methods use temperatures ranging from 145ºF up to 280ºF, whereas the crystallization of ice cream requires temperatures of 24ºF.  The ThermoLift product can help dairy producers save electricity for cooling and fuel for heating.

Breweries

While each brewery has its own unique process for brewing beer, there are various steps (both heating and cooling) that could benefit from the introduction of the ThermoLift heat pump. Mashing and Boiling require heating, whereas Wort Cooling and Fermenting require cooling of the beer.

Liquid Natural Gas

Maintaining low temperatures during transportation is essential to delivering a safe product that experiences minimal gas losses during the trip. Thermolift can increase the efficiency of the transportation process by shortening the refrigerating cycle, reducing the cost of electricity, and decreasing occupation area on the ship.