Pascal Raises $8M to Solve the HVAC Industry’s Climate Problem
08 Mayo 2024 - 11:00AM
Business Wire
Launched out of Harvard University, the
startup’s materials-based innovation pioneers low-pressure solid
refrigerants for use in heat pumps, air conditioners, refrigerators
and freezers.
Pascal, a startup developing high-efficiency climate-friendly
heat pumps, air conditioners and refrigerators based on solid
refrigerants, today introduced its novel technology and announced
it has raised an $8 million seed round led by Engine Ventures, with
Khosla Ventures and previous investor Blindspot Ventures
participating. The funding will be used to productize Pascal’s low
pressure, solid refrigerant-based system, conforming to commercial
HVAC specifications. The company will also use the capital to
expand its Boston-based team of mechanical engineers, chemists, and
material scientists.
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Pascal's leadership team (Photo: Business
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Currently, space and hot water heating, cooling and
refrigeration account for approximately 50% of electricity use in
commercial buildings and over 70% in residential buildings. In
addition to requiring substantial energy, today’s HVAC technologies
– including heat pumps – rely on hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a group
of synthetic gasses used for cooling and refrigeration. HFCs’
impact on global warming can be thousands of times greater than
that of carbon dioxide, with an estimated 2% of total greenhouse
gas emissions coming from HFC leaks from HVAC systems. Solid
refrigerants provide a much-needed alternative to the
sustainability challenges of gaseous refrigerants like HFCs,
however historically they’ve required massive pressure to induce
the large thermal changes required for transporting heat from one
location to another. As a result, solid refrigerant systems
typically require specialized pressure vessels, pumps and
compressors, making them prohibitively expensive.
“As our climate continues to warm, demand for HVAC is rapidly
rising, with global energy demand for air conditioners alone
expected to triple by 2050. At the same time, the HVAC industry
faces significant regulatory and societal pressure to shift to
using refrigerants with lower global warming potential, as
demonstrated by the Kigali Amendment, which mandates an 80%
reduction in HFC use in developed nations by 2036,” explained Adam
Slavney, co-founder and CEO of Pascal. “Heat pumps are a crucial
tool for decarbonizing the HVAC industry, however they rely on
polluting HFCs and are more expensive than gas furnaces. Pascal is
building a better heat pump based on solid refrigerants that will
deliver higher efficiencies at lower costs while eliminating all
refrigerant emissions.”
Pascal’s novel class of solid refrigerants operate at lower
pressures than previously possible and can be used across a range
of HVAC applications, including heat pumps, air conditioners,
refrigerators and freezers. The company believes its systems can be
manufactured within the existing industrial ecosystem, using
off-the-shelf parts from the conventional HVAC component supply
chain. Companies operating in the commercial refrigeration supply
chain, and any organization with heating and cooling needs across
distributed locations can benefit from Pascal’s technology, which
offers:
- 0 direct refrigerant emissions
- 50% - 80% improvement in energy efficiency
- Smaller, quieter and safer systems
- A direct interface with standard HVAC components
“We’ve not only discovered a new class of solid materials ideal
for refrigeration, we’ve also identified a new way to use pressure
to induce phase transitions in these solid materials. This allows
us to drive heating and cooling cycles with significantly reduced
energy input,” said Jinyoung Seo, co-founder and CTO of Pascal.
“Over the past two years, we’ve driven down the operating pressures
of our solid refrigerants by several orders of magnitude, unlocking
cost-effective systems that can work with existing HVAC compressors
and components.”
Pascal launched from the Mason Group at Harvard University, a
research group led by Jarad Mason in the Department of Chemistry
and Chemical Biology that applies the tools of coordination
chemistry, materials science and nanotechnology to design materials
that address science challenges in energy and medicine. Dr. Mason
is a co-founder and the Chief Science Officer of Pascal.
“With demand for clean electrons surging, but constraints on
their access biting, solutions that increase efficiency and drive
down HVAC electrical loads and costs are critical to meeting our
energy transition goals. Accomplishing that and removing 2% of
greenhouse gas-equivalent emissions from HFCs is a win-win,” added
Michael Kearney, General Partner at Engine Ventures. “We are
thrilled to support this team as they build a business around their
transformative materials and chemistry-based discoveries.”
“The scale of the HVAC sector's greenhouse gas emissions is on
par with other massive categories like global aviation. Yet as our
world warms, cooling becomes a survival tool,” said Jessy Rivest,
partner at Khosla Ventures. “Pascal’s pioneering technology stands
poised to tackle both the emissions and survival challenges,
innovating for a cooler, cleaner future.”
Pascal is actively hiring for a variety of Boston-based
positions, to apply visit: https://pascaltechnology.com/careers/
The company is also partnering with organizations with significant
refrigeration needs and/or distributed commercial real estate
footprints. Email contact@pascaltechnology.com for more information
on future pilot programs.
About Pascal
Launched from Professor Jarad Mason’s research group at Harvard
University, Pascal is on a mission to solve the HVAC industry’s
climate problem. The company’s novel class of solid refrigerants
have zero global warming potential, and are cost-effective,
non-volatile and highly efficient. Pascal’s solid refrigerant-based
systems can be used across a range of HVAC applications, and
manufactured within the existing industrial ecosystem. The company
is backed by Engine Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Blindspot
Ventures. For more information, visit:
https://pascaltechnology.com/
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Media Kerry Walker kerry@engineventures.com