Google X sets up new geothermal energy startup company

Google X, a moonshot factory operating as a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc., has set up an independent startup company outside the Alphabet umbrella to promote a new geothermal system technology.

The company, called Dandelion, was created to make geothermal energy more accessible and affordable for homeowners. Dandelion will offer geothermal heating and cooling systems to homeowners, starting in the northeastern US.

“For the past few years, my team and I have been on a mission to make it easier and more affordable to heat and cool homes with the clean, free, abundant, and renewable energy source right under our feet: geothermal energy,” says Dandelion CEO Kathy Hannun.

Residences and commercial buildings in the US account for 39% of the country’s overall carbon emissions, Hannun said, mostly in the Northeast where fuel oil and propane are the primary sources of heat for many homes. Energy prices can vary widely from year to year, making it hard for families to budget. Geothermal is based on the idea that the temperature of earth remains fairly constant from season to season and year to year.

“Home geothermal systems can offer lower and steadier monthly energy costs because they use the energy in the ground under your yard,” Hannun said. “The ground stays at about 50 degrees Fahrenheit year round. In the wintertime, water circulating through U-shaped plastic pipes installed in your yard absorbs heat from the earth, and then a geothermal heat pump inside of your home turns it into warm air. In the summertime, the pump draws the warm air out of your home and the so-called ‘ground loops’ disperse the heat into the earth.”

Previously, geothermal systems depended on bringing in the big drilling rigs needed to bore artesian wells. But Dandelion is based on new technology, Hannun explained. “We decided to try to design a better drill that could reduce the time, mess and hassle of installing these pipes, which could in turn reduce the final cost of a system to homeowners.

“We began prototyping and testing all sorts of ideas, like modifying a jackhammer that could burrow itself into the ground; freezing the ground with liquid nitrogen and chipping the soil away with a hammer; and even using a high pressure water jet to obliterate the ground at rocket speeds. After months of testing, we hit upon a design for a fast, slender drill that hit our objectives.

“It could drill just one or two deep holes just a few inches wide, and compared to typical installation rigs, it produced less waste and took up much less space as it operated. It left a typical suburban backyard relatively undisturbed, so we could minimize landscaping costs for homeowners. Just as importantly, it was fast; we could install all the ground loops in less than a day, instead of the more typical 3 or 4 days.”

The Dandelion system promises to be much less expensive than traditional geothermal systems, which will make it more attractive to homeowners. The business has already begun operations in New York and will concentrate on other areas in the Northeast first.

Hannun said they are looking to partner with local heating and cooling installers. They have also developed a financing program that will allow homeowners to install a Dandelion system for no money down and save money from day one while locking in low, predictable payments for heating and cooling.

Dandelion has just closed an initial round of seed funding led by Collaborative Fund to help with sales and operations.