BACKED VENTURE: BLUE FRONTIER
FOF INVESTMENT: $5 MILLION
A Florida man, John Gorrie, is credited with creating air conditioning 175 years ago by blowing air over ice. A different Florida man, Daniel Betts, says he has created a system that cools better and uses a fraction of the electricity as traditional air conditioners.
Betts, founder and CEO of Boca Raton-based Blue Frontier, calls air conditioning “the most annoying load” because it comprises such a disproportionate share of power demand.
“We build battery systems and grid stability systems, and we build oversized transmission and distribution lines. We build peaking plants. All of them are there to cover peak electricity consumption associated with air conditioning,” he says.
Blue Frontier offers “a completely new way” of cooling that’s inspired by the way your body sweats to keep you from overheating. Blue Frontier systems liquify desiccant — the stuff inside those little packets that come inside your Amazon delivery boxes — to absorb humidity out of the air. The drier air triggers dehydration within the heat exchanger, which makes the air cooler, similar to the way sweat makes the body feel cooler.
Betts, who earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and thermal science at the University of Florida, helped develop the technology with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado and secured an exclusive license to use it commercially.
The process uses less than half the electricity of conventional systems. Continued refinements have made the unit twice as efficient, and Betts believes he can make the system more affordable. While he declined to discuss his current price point, he says it’s competitive with existing systems.
“We will enable building owners to buy the Ferrari of air conditioners at the price of their Honda Civic,” Betts says. As a result, Blue Frontier is choosing its first customers to showcase “the disruptive nature of the technology.” The first units are in use at Jackson Memorial Hospital, Barry University and Fort Lauderdale’s Museum of Discovery and Science’s IMAX theater. Eight more should be running by fall.
The savings are so dramatic, Betts believes, that it will make economic sense for commercial building owners to replace their existing systems before they start to conk out.
A 2022 funding round grabbed attention when Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy Venture invested, citing both the clean energy aspects and “compelling pricing models that make it an easy economic decision to swap out traditional systems.”
The Florida Opportunity Fund seems fully on board. While its typical funding ranges between $1 million to $3 million, Blue Frontier received $5 million in a round that also attracted significant investment from NextEra Energy. An energy company’s interest is obvious, Betts says. If Blue Frontier units really do dramatically reduce the load on electrical grids, companies like NextEra may be able to save on infrastructure.
Betts says the investment by Florida taxpayers is a source of pride and responsibility.
“We create multiplicative jobs — we hire from the factory floor all the way to scientists, engineers, businesspeople, finance experts, service providers, installers. We want to see that happen right here in our state.”