Our Work
Our work focuses on scaling technologies with deep climate and community impact. Below, you will find a subset of the more than 100 projects Elemental has funded, designed and deployed in collaboration with our portfolio companies and communities around the world.
Featured Projects
Forum Mobility Builds Electric Truck Charging Depot
ActiveForum Mobility is building an integrated electric truck and charging station in the busiest port in the Port of Long Beach — the busiest port in America — while collaborating with the Harbor Trucking Association to ensure Forum’s subscription program is accessible to independently-owned businesses. The project is modeling how to rapidly decarbonize the drayage industry that transports goods to and from seaports, and prevent hazardous pollution impacting nearby communities.
- Key PartnerHarbor Trucking Association
- SectorMobility
- LocationCalifornia
Nth Cycle Opens Critical Minerals Refining Facility
ActiveRare metals extraction and recycling company Nth Cycle is commissioning the first domestic nickel and cobalt recovery, recycling and refining facility that will initially process 1,200 tons of material per year. As a decarbonizing world increasingly relies on these metals for batteries, solar panels and electrical components, Nth Cycle is partnering with family-owned businesses in the Midwest to build a clean and efficient metals supply chain within the U.S. It is also actively transitioning engineers and other workers from the oil and gas industry to clean technology.
- SectorIndustry
- LocationOhio
Allume Energy Brings Solar to Multi-Family Buildings
ActiveAllume Energy is bringing its SolShare technology, which makes it possible to share a single rooftop solar system with multiple units in the same building, to more than 4,000 residents across the Southeastern U.S., starting in Florida, Georgia and Mississippi. The project will shave an average of 40% off tenants’ electricity bills (to the tune of $1100 saved annually per tenant) while expanding shared solar to renters and low-income communities. What’s more, it will prevent an estimated 10,000 tons of CO2 emissions over the next year — equivalent to taking over 2,000 cars off the road.
- SectorEnergy
- LocationFlorida
All Projects
Ampaire Flies a World’s First in Hybrid-Electric Aviation
Ampaire became the first company to fly a hybrid-electric aircraft on a commercial airline route, partnering with Mokulele Airlines to fly from Maui’s Kahului airport to Hana and back on a single charge. This milestone represents a huge leap forward in the viability of electric aviation to reduce costs for airlines and expand access to more rural and island communities, all while lowering emissions and noise pollution.
- SectorMobility
- LocationHawaii
BlocPower Greens Buildings and Creates Local Jobs in New Markets
BlocPower, which decarbonizes buildings by installing all-electric systems like solar and heat pumps, expanded beyond its home market of New York for the first time, and developed an innovative financing strategy for communities to invest in local clean energy projects. Now a market leader in both building electrification and green workforce development, BlocPower aims to eliminate the 30% of GHG emissions produced by buildings in the U.S.
- Key PartnerRevalue.io
- SectorEnergy
- LocationCalifornia
Blue Ocean Barns Partners for Climate-Friendly Goat Cheese
Blue Ocean Barns’ Hawaii-grown, seaweed-based feed supplement significantly reduces livestock methane emissions (aka burps), which make up 25% of agricultural GHG emissions. With Elemental’s Square Partnerships Prize, Blue Ocean Barns entered the $12B goat dairy industry, partnering with a local farm, community college and a restaurant group to create and serve the world’s first climate-friendly, low-emissions goat cheese.
- Key PartnerHawaii Island Goat Dairy
- SectorFood/Ag
- LocationHawaii
CarbonCure Advances Low-Carbon Concrete Policy
CarbonCure, whose technology injects captured CO2 into concrete, licensed and installed its system at 19 concrete plants globally and secured the first policy to incentivize low-carbon concrete for public infrastructure projects in Honolulu. The policy led to a demonstration of CarbonCure’s concrete with the Hawaii Department of Transportation and was later endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, accelerating concrete decarbonization efforts in California, New Jersey, Colorado, New York and beyond.
- Key PartnerHawaii Department of Transportation
- SectorIndustry
- LocationHawaii
ChargerHelp! Trains Workers to Fix EV Chargers
ChargerHelp! is pioneering workforce development for the electric vehicle (EV) charging industry, with a special focus on creating quality, well-paying charger technician jobs in low-income and disadvantaged communities. In Elemental’s Strategy Track, ChargerHelp! doubled its customers and number of serviced EV charging stations, and closed $4.25M in funding while hiring 20 technicians across seven states. Today, ChargerHelp! is the industry leader in the operation and maintenance of charging stations, having serviced more than 10,000 EV chargers in nearly 20 states.
- SectorMobility
- LocationCalifornia
Climate Robotics Uses Crop Waste to Remove Agricultural CO2
Climate Robotics’ technology helps farmers convert their crop waste into biochar, a soil amendment that boosts soil health and crop yields, while sequestering up to five tons of CO2 equivalent per acre. Climate Robotics scaled its technology from a prototype to a field-ready, full-size commercial system, and grew from one paying customer to partnerships in four communities across Texas and rural Arkansas. The company also developed a model for donating biochar to smaller farmers in these communities to ensure they reap the benefits of regenerative agriculture.
- Key PartnerFarmers in Texas and Arkansas
- SectorFood/Ag
- LocationTexas
Dimensional Energy and Seneca Nation Develop Sustainable Aviation Fuel Facility
ActiveDimensional Energy is building a facility to turn captured carbon dioxide and water into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), as well as carbon-neutral waxes to use in cosmetics, plastics and more. Elemental’s Scale-Up funding supports key pre-development activities and unlocks financing from Seneca Holdings, allowing Dimensional to start building in 2024 and produce 200 barrels of SAF daily by 2026. The partnership includes a workforce development strategy with job training and local recruitment among Seneca Nation citizens.
- Key PartnerSeneca Nation
- SectorIndustry
- LocationNew York
Dollaride Electrifies and Expands Mobility in Transit Deserts
ActiveDollaride, a commuter-van ridesharing service built for the millions of Americans without access to public transit, is deploying electric vehicles and chargers to commuter van drivers to advance New York City’s Clean Transit Access Program. This pilot is designed to unlock $27M to electrify more than 100 buses by 2026, and help the company expand its EV fleet to more cities across the U.S. — creating clean transit options and reducing pollution in frontline communities. Commuter van drivers will now have access to clean electric vehicles, and the ability to reduce operating costs.
- Key PartnerNew York State Energy Research and Development Authority
- SectorMobility
- LocationNew York
Energy Dome Builds Innovative Long-Duration Energy Storage Plant
ActiveEnergy Dome, which stores energy by compressing and expanding CO2 in a flexible, site-specific structure, is expanding to the U.S. and building its first commercial-scale energy storage system on the site of a retired coal plant. With their modular approach and supply chain of off-the-shelf components, Energy Dome is able to rapidly deploy critically-needed long-duration storage. Following Elemental’s catalytic investment, the project won nearly $30M from the U.S. Department of Energy. Energy Dome and its partners are also working with the Ho-Chunk Nation to engage communities and develop a community benefits agreement. Once operating, the zero-emissions “battery” is expected to power about 20,000 homes.
- Key PartnerAlliant Energy
- SectorEnergy
- LocationWisconsin
Evrnu Turns Textile Waste into High-Performing Fiber
ActiveTextile recycling innovator Evrnu brought its prototype technology, Nucycl, to commercial scale and proved it could create high-performing fibers from textile waste. As a direct result of our work together, Evrnu developed its first commercial fabric for designer Stella McCartney. Now, Evrnu is using insights from its work with Elemental to bring its fiber pulping process in house. Elemental is helping fund its first commercial-scale facility in South Carolina, which will produce 18,000 tons of fiber each year while diverting tons of cotton waste and preventing millions of tons of water from being consumed.
- Key PartnerReGenesis Community Development
- SectorIndustry
- LocationSouth Carolina
Fervo Energy Prioritizes Supplier Diversity in Advanced Geothermal Pilot
Fervo Energy, which brings techniques from the oil and gas industry to unlock new sources of zero-emission geothermal energy, partnered with Elemental to implement a supplier diversity policy while building its first commercial-scale advanced geothermal plant. To ensure all communities benefit from geothermal projects, Fervo tripled the amount it was paying to underrepresented and local vendors, allocating over half these funds to women-owned businesses. Fervo’s pilot in Nevada became the most productive enhanced geothermal system in history when it successfully generated 3.5MW of electricity — enough to power roughly 750 homes at once.
- Key PartnerNevada Bureau of Land Management
- SectorEnergy
- LocationNevada
FreeWire Technologies Scales Battery-Integrated Mobile EV Charging
FreeWire deployed its battery-integrated mobile EV chargers for the first time with a utility provider and proved its station can be installed almost anywhere with a standard 240-volt outlet, without major construction or grid overhauls. Today, FreeWire sells to large retailers and fleets and is accelerating electrification by slashing the costs and complexity of installing ultrafast charging technologies — benefitting site hosts, grid operators and communities alike.
- SectorMobility
- LocationHawaii
Mast Reforestation Accelerates Post-Wildfire Reforestation
To restore an Oregon forest severely damaged by wildfire, Mast Reforestation deployed its drones to do aerial seeding in collaboration with forestry professionals and local communities, including members of the Karuk and Hoopa Tribes. The project showcased the key ingredients of a high-quality nature-based solution that is built for long-term carbon removal and creates workforce development opportunities in low-income rural communities affected by wildfires.
- Key PartnerEcotrust Forest Management
- SectorNature-based Solutions
- LocationOregon
Numina Delivers Street-Level Insights for Mobility Access
In partnership with the Toyota Mobility Foundation, Numina deployed its street-level mobility sensors in Kuala Lumpur to gather data on mobility trends and generate insights to support the city’s goal to become more walkable and bikeable. The project helped Numina develop new capabilities for city planners to understand what, where, when and how things move around, making cities safer, healthier and more equitable for the people who inhabit them.
- SectorMobility
- LocationKuala Lumpur
OhmConnect Makes Energy Savings More Accessible
OhmConnect, which pays households to save electricity during peak usage, revamped its platform to be more appealing and accessible to diverse communities and successfully recruited new employees and thousands of low- to moderate-income customers in Stockton and Modesto, CA. The project laid the groundwork for OhmConnect to equitably deploy $100M worth of smart thermostats across California and create a distributed residential “virtual power plant,” where customers reduce their energy use to counteract grid stress — and help avoid increasingly frequent blackouts.
- SectorEnergy
- LocationCalifornia
Propagate and Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative Expand Breadfruit Agroforestry
Propagate, which helps farms incorporate trees with crops in a regenerative practice called agroforestry, and Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative (HUC), a farmer-owned co-op revitalizing Hawaiʻi’s Indigenous food systems, designed systems and community partnership frameworks to rapidly expand ‘ulu (or breadfruit) production in Hawaiʻi. After Elemental provided the catalytic funding for this collaboration, Propagate and HUC received part of a $60M grant from the USDA’s Climate Smart Commodities program.
- Key PartnerOK Farms
- SectorFood/Ag
- LocationHawaii
Remix Builds Equity into City-Planning Software
Remix teamed up with equity and transportation advocates assembled by the Oakland-based mobility justice nonprofit TransForm and several major California departments of transportation to develop a new equity analysis feature for Remix’s city planning software. Shortly after completing the project Remix was acquired by Via for $100M, and more than 500 cities now use this tool to plan more reliable and accessible transit systems.
- Key PartnerTransForm
- SectorMobility
- LocationCalifornia
Sighten Installs No-Cost Residential Solar in Frontline Communities
In partnership with the nonprofit GRID Alternatives, Sighten used its solar software platform to design and install solar panels at no cost to 10 low-income households in East Palo Alto and California’s Bay Area, generating $250K in total energy savings for homeowners and avoiding 520 tons of GHG emissions. The project generated 480 hours of community volunteer work, and five solar design training sessions for 75 job seekers.
- Key PartnerGRID Alternatives
- SectorEnergy
- LocationCalifornia
SOURCE Global Builds Renewable Water Bottling Facility
SOURCE, whose Hydropanels produce drinking water using sunlight and air, piloted a new business model: a Water Purchase Agreement where customers could buy water by the liter and avoid the upfront costs of purchasing an array of panels. By establishing a successful water production, bottling and distribution business with an Indigenous-owned partner in Australia, SOURCE gained a valuable proof point to replicate this model globally, fueling its growth in over 50 countries.
- Key PartnerWaddi Springs
- SectorWater
- LocationAustralia
SPAN Partners with Solar and Storage Installers to Electrify Hawaii
SPAN brought its smart home electrical panel — which makes it easy to integrate and control solar, batteries, EVs and electric appliances — to a new geographic market, developed a compact and versatile second generation panel and launched a local rebate incentive with clean energy nonprofit Hawaiߵi Energy. While helping people modernize and decarbonize their homes, SPAN is tackling the roughly 20% of global energy-related carbon emissions produced by residential properties.
- Key PartnerHawaii Energy
- SectorEnergy
- LocationHawaii
Stem Demonstrates Benefits of Distributed Energy Storage
Stem partnered with Hawaiian Electric (HECO) to design and implement the utility’s first energy storage pilot, which was one of the first of its kind in the U.S. Stem successfully deployed a 1MW “virtual power plant” on Oahu across 29 commercial sites, creating a distributed fleet of batteries for HECO to use as a fast and flexible grid resource — a crucial milestone on Hawaii’s path to 100% renewable energy.
- SectorEnergy
- LocationHawaii
Terviva Plants Regenerative Pongamia Trees for Carbon-Negative Protein
Terviva worked with local partners to establish an orchard and research operation in Hawaii to grow climate-resilient, land-revitalizing pongamia trees, and developed the first pongamia-derived edible product (cattle feed), a precursor to Terviva’s carbon-negative protein and culinary oil. Terviva works with farming communities around the world to set a new standard in regenerative agriculture, cutting agricultural emissions while producing more food for more people.
- Key PartnerKamehameha Schools
- SectorFood/Ag
- LocationHawaii
TradeLanes Helps Small Businesses Trade Globally — While Curbing Emissions
TradeLanes, which simplifies global trade by bringing operations entirely online, worked with Elemental to tailor a low-cost, self-service version of its digital platform for small producers. Piloted with family-owned fruit and nut farms in the Central Valley of California, this project prioritized community engagement and paved a clear path for TradeLanes to give small businesses around the world the tools to fill millions of containers that are shipped empty each year. By streamlining steps along the supply chain, TradeLines enables key elements of a circular economy, such as traceability and re-use of raw materials, and curbs associated GHG emissions — including 4,000 tons over the course of this project.
- Key PartnerSpecialty Crop Trade Council
- SectorFood/Ag
- LocationCalifornia
Transcend & Microvi Redefine Efficient and Sustainable Wastewater Treatment
In a historically slow-moving and risk-averse industry, Transcend and Microvi partnered to redefine efficient wastewater treatment design and processes by incorporating Microvi’s proprietary green-wastewater treatment technology into Transcend’s fully-automated wastewater treatment design software. The collaboration accelerated the growth of both companies, paving the way to deliver more sustainable wastewater treatment options to utilities and healthy and contaminant-free water to communities around the world.
- SectorWater
- LocationGlobal
Trove Centers Equity and Access in its Workforce
Trove, which helps brands like Levi’s, Lululemon and Patagonia buy back and resell their products (thus keeping them out of landfills), grew its team from 26 to 150 employees using Elemental’s Equity In / Equity Out framework. In addition to engaging community partners like Goodwill, the company developed best practices for diverse hiring, inclusion and retention, resulting in a 1:1 male-to-female staff ratio and employee demographics that resemble its surrounding community.
- Key PartnerGoodwill
- SectorIndustry
- LocationCalifornia
Twelve Hones Its Commercialization Strategy
Twelve, which uses air, water and renewable energy to make fuels, chemicals and materials that typically come from fossil fuels, set out to better understand the market for its zero-emission carbon transformation technology. In Elemental’s Strategy Track, the company completed a discovery process to better understand the landscape of its customers, then worked with Elemental’s sales coaches to formalize its go-to-market plan. Today, Twelve helps companies like Tide, Mercedes-Benz and Alaska Airlines eliminate fossil fuels in their supply chains.
- SectorIndustry
- LocationGlobal
Vesta Turns Shorelines in Carbon Removing Powerhouses
ActiveWith rising sea levels threatening coastal communities and ecosystems, Vesta’s carbon-removing sand (made out of the mineral olivine) serves a dual purpose of protecting coastlines and amplifying the ocean’s natural ability to absorb CO2. Vesta is scaling 14x from its first pilot to its second in the U.S. — open-sourcing its science to ensure the industry learns and grows as it adopts this nature-based solution. In addition to supporting this second pilot, Elemental contributed to Vesta’s community study aimed at integrating frontline community perspectives in carbon dioxide removal projects — before and during deployment.
- Key PartnerCoastal Studies Institute
- SectorNature-based Solutions
- LocationNorth Carolina
ZeroAvia Accelerates Zero-Emission Aviation
ZeroAvia, which is developing the world’s first zero-emission aircraft engine, created a repeatable and scalable sales process with feasibility studies, which are vital tools to educate airlines about the benefits of switching to hydrogen-electric propulsion. This led ZeroAvia to land its first paying customer and secure agreements for more than 2,000 engines. As it prepares to go to market in 2025, ZeroAvia is setting the stage for dramatic GHG and cost reductions across the aviation sector.
- SectorMobility
- LocationGlobal