Stealthy Startup Watch: Alphabet Energy

A spin-out from the University of California Berkeley is attempting to improve the economics and output of one of my favorite segments in the energy world: waste heat.

The company, called either Alphabet or ABC, is working on thermoelectric semiconductors that can convert heat into electrical power. Wrap this sort of material around a steam pipe in a factory and it could help generate electricity for on-site machinery, etc. Historically, researchers have used bismuth telluride to make thermoelectric semiconductors. Japan's Komatsu, for instance, showed off panels this year that can convert 7.2 percent of their waste heat into electricity, or 50 percent better than normal.

Newer companies like Alphabet are tinkering with things like silicon nanowires, which potentially can convert more power more economically. GMZ Energy, Promethean Power and Cypress Semiconductor are all also experimenting with thermoelectrics and various semi materials like gallium. GMZ and Cypress want to turn heat into power while Promethean converts electricity from PV panels directly into heat. Last year, we heard that UC Berkeley was contemplating spinning out this company and talking to TSMC about manufacturing issues.

Companies such as Recycled Energy Development (RED) and Ormat have successfully retrofitted factories to capture waste heat, but they largely rely on mechanical engineering. Heat is captured and then channeled into productive uses. One of RED's showcase projects coming next year is a system at West Virginia Alloys, a silicon manufacturer, that will generate 45 megawatts of electrical power from the waste heat generated by factory operations.  The company uses 120 megawatts right now: The waste heat system will effectively allow Alloys to recover about one-third of the power it now buys but wastes.

Replacing mechanical systems with semiconductors, potentially, will be the next wave for the industry.

Arun Majumdar, the Almy and Agnes Maynard professor of mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley, has pointed out that the U.S. consumes about 100 quads of energy a year and wastes around 55 to 60 quads, he said. A quad is a quadrillion BTUs. A BTU is equivalent to the energy produced by a match.