New funding spells opportunity for Alphabet Energy

Alphabet is targeting industrial facilities.

Alphabet Energy got a boost in May in its pursuit of an inexpensive way to turn waste heat into electricity. The Bay Area startup got $1 million in seed financing from the CalCEF Clean Energy Angel Fund and Claremont Creek Ventures.

The 1-year-old company is in the midst of commercializing semiconductor materials developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Alphabet’s thermoelectric materials create electricity when one side is made hot and the other cold. The resultant energy could then be used to power and increase the efficiency of industrial and power generation facilities.

Alphabet, which was a 2009 Clean Tech Open award winner, says there is a $200 billion market for converting waste heat into power. The barrier so far has been the high upfront costs of installing waste heat recovery systems, Alphabet founder and CEO Matthew Scullin says. Because the company’s technology uses abundant materials and a manufacturing model that doesn’t require it to build its own fabricating facilities, Alphabet could break down that cost barrier, Scullin says.

The company plans to use the funding to create a commercial prototype, and expects to get its technology to market in about two years.