Startup Nostromo targets commercial cooling and air conditioning’s heavy burden on electricity grids
Nostromo's 600kWh 'IceBrick' system is visible on the roof of medical device maker Medinol's Jerusalem facility. Image: Nostromo.
The cooling of commercial and industrial (C&I) buildings accounts for a significant percentage of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), but can instead be turned into “powerful energy assets,” rather than a burden on the grid, according to the CTO of a company attempting to achieve exactly that.
Israel-headquartered technology company Nostromo has developed a “water-based behind-the-meter (BTM) energy storage system,” which can be installed on the rooftops of C&I buildings and help manage their energy needs. The water is frozen into ice using electricity when Nostromo’s thermal ‘IceBricks’ are being charged and then thawed to discharge the stored energy.
Yaron Ben Nun, who is founder as well as chief technology officer of Nostromo, told Energy-Storage.news that the IceBrick has a round-trip efficiency greater than 85% and is capable of 94% depth of discharge in every four-hour cycle. The company also claims the equipment and its ‘cells’ do not degrade over time, do not rely on the use of rare or critical materials for their construction and are recyclable. Ben Nun said the equipment is “modular, compact and compatible with most commercial and industrial buildings,” as well as being “powerful enough to have a significant impact”.
