Dandelion Energy
Affordable and Efficient Geothermal Solutions for Households

As climate change increasingly affects the planet’s weather patterns, the requirement for a valuable and eco-friendly energy resource grows for the household heating and cooling systems. In most conventional homes—the use of electricity, oil, or natural gas as fuel to meet heating and cooling requirements is evident. However, this merely adds to the emissions that speed up climate change and adding to that the fluctuating price of electricity, oil, or natural gas due to supply and demand can be an inconvenience to consumers. As a result, organizations are pursuing avenues around the world that hold potential for a cleaner energy resource to meet the heating and cooling requirements in typical households. One among these organizations, Dandelion Energy, has developed a geothermal system that harnesses thermal energy by exchanging air temperatures between the earth and your home to meet the heating and cooling requirements. The system is called Dandelion Air, and it aims to be an affordable, an efficient and most importantly an eco-friendly alternative to the conventional air conditioning and heating system.

The Dandelion Air provides home heating, central air conditioning, and hot water at over four times the efficiency of any pre-existing heating and cooling system in the market. The system is designed to distribute heat and cooling using ductwork and vents. The Dandelion Air system harnesses the temperature of the earth 10 feet below the surface level, which is a constant 55 degrees Fahrenheit year-round to heat or cool as needed. Though many geothermal systems are similar, there are differences between them, the engineers at Dandelion use a closed loop system and view it as the most efficient and safest option to meet homeowners requirements. During system installation, the closed loop pipe with a water solution is buried in the ground beneath your home. The tubes are not connected to a more extensive infrastructure, and will not interact with any fluid outside your system, as this water circulates through Dandelion’s pipes, the water solution within the pipes changes temperature.

In wintertime, this 55- degree solution is warmer than the outside air, and the system pulls this warm solution through the tubes and uses a heat pump to provide heating for your home. The same principle applies to in-reverse, during the summer. Dandelion’s Air system uses the temperature of the ground to provide cooling inside homes. The system uses a two-stage compressor in-order to maintain a steady and even temperature between the hot and cold air efficiently.

In terms of both energy and cost, installation of a Dandelion system can cut heating and cooling expenses by up to 50 percent every month. A home with a geothermal energy system reduces greenhouse gas emissions by seven tons per year, equivalent to removing almost two cars from the road each year. The Dandelion Air system includes a heat pump, a 50-gallon preheated water tank, a Nest thermostat, a ten-year product warranty, a five-year labor allowances package and a three-year workmanship warranty. Post-installation, the Dandelion Air system operates in a hassle-free, quiet and low-maintenance manner.

Conceived initially at X, Alphabet’s innovation lab, Dandelion shares a personal commitment to mitigate climate change by making renewable technologies more accessible to all. Aiming to bring leadership experience from X and SolarCity, bringing an approach to projects that have the aspiration and riskiness of research with the speed and ambition of a start-up.