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AFFORDABLE, CLIMATE-FRIENDLY COOLING FOR ALL
VISION
We're Out to Bring Efficient Cooling to All Who Need It —
While Minimizing its Climate Impact
Air conditioning technology is largely unchanged since it's introduction over a hundred years ago. At Zephyr, we have reinvented cooling from the ground up with a novel thermodynamic cycle that is much more efficient than that used in today's air conditioners.
Since electricity accounts for up to 85% of an air conditioner's life cycle cost, a large efficiency improvement both reduces its climate impact and lowers its cost for the numerous people worldwide who urgently need cooling but cannot afford it.
Just 8% of the 2.8B people living in the world's hottest regions have AC
Global
Heat
Intensity
TECHNOLOGY
We Develop Ultra-Efficient Thermal Systems
EFFICIENT COOLING FOR THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Our novel blend of vapor pump dehumidification and evaporative cooling delivers an unprecedented level of efficiency.
Vapor Pump Dehumidification
Our unique vapor pump architecture uses a liquid desiccant to efficiently transport water vapor out from the incoming air and into an outgoing exhaust stream, while recycling the desiccant for repeated use.
Evaporative Cooling
With our vapor pump dehumidifier providing extremely dry air, evaporative cooling is used to efficiently cool our system's output air stream.
OUR JOURNEY SO FAR
2019-2020
PRE-ZEPHYR: GLOBAL COOLING PRIZE FINALIST
Zephyr co-founder and CTO Jacob Miller and his ex-Tesla partner develop some novel cooling ideas and are selected as one of eight finalists in the Global Cooling Prize—an international competition to reduce the climate impact of cooling.
2021-2022
ZEPHYR FOUNDED
Jacob develops the vapor pump architecture, wins a Massachusetts Clean Energy Center grant and is joined by CEO Ronn Kliger to found Zephyr Innovations, Inc. Zephyr wins an ARPA-E grant and hires our first full-time engineer.
COOLING AND ZEPHYR IN THE NEWS
CNN: Why it's time to redesign the old air conditioner
December 2, 2019
Cooling our air is responsible for 10% of the world's electricity consumption. As the world heats, demand for cooling will grow furthering air conditioning's climate impact, thus warming the Earth further.
July 11, 2022
Zephyr was awarded a combined Supporting Entrepreneurial Energy Discoveries (SEED) grant to develop and demonstrate a lab scale air conditioner prototype.
Zephyr Wins Cooling Solutions Challenge Grand Prize
July 5, 2022
Zephyr was selected as the grand prize winner in this competition to identify solutions for protecting people in extreme heat conditions.
May 9, 2023
Zephyr was selected as a Phase I SBIR awardee to further the development of its liquid desiccant air conditioning technology.
Meet The Team
Jacob Miller
Co-Founder and CTO
Jacob Miller, Zephyr’s CTO and a co-founder, has over ten years of experience solving large scale thermal problems and designing energy-efficient solutions. At Tesla, Inc., Jacob designed the ultra-low water/energy consuming cooling system at Tesla Giga Nevada. Formerly, he was the CTO of M2 Thermal Solutions - a finalist in the Global Cooling Prize challenge. Jacob has a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Yale University and MIT, respectively.
Ronn Kliger
Co-Founder and CEO
Ronn Kliger, Zephyr’s CEO and a co-founder, has over 35 years of experience developing and commercializing new technologies and was most recently a co-founder and the CEO of Uniqarta, Inc.—a laser chip placement startup acquired by Kulicke & Soffa in 2021. Prior to Uniqarta, Mr. Kliger held various engineering and business positions of increasing responsibility at Raytheon and Analog Devices. He has a BS and MS in Electrical Engineer from Georgia Tech and the University of Southern California, respectively, and an MBA from Northeastern University.
Andrew Bouma
Sr. Process Engineer
Andrew researched membrane desalination systems for 6 years at MIT. An expert in osmotically assisted reverse osmosis, Andrew is leading the process design which leverages membrane technologies. Andrew has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Calvin University and a MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.