BERKELEY, Calif., June 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — It isn’t every day that a mechanical system wins a prestigious design award from home builders. But that’s exactly what happened at this year’s Gold Nugget Award presented by PCBC. Harvest’s groundbreaking Smart Thermal Battery™ won the Grand Prize for Innovative Housing Concepts – Construction Technology for Next Generation HVAC for its project at a KB Home development in Manteca, CA.
The smartest heating on Earth stands out from ordinary HVAC systems by combining heat pump technology with thermal energy storage to uniquely slash home emissions, reduce monthly heating bills, and offer residents superior comfort. For home builders, it captures higher incentives and tax credits.
“Harvest is proud to have partnered with KB Home to demonstrate the value of our HVAC and hot water system,” said Pierre Delforge, Harvest’s Head of Product and Operations at the Art of Design Awards Ceremony. “By harvesting clean, low-cost solar energy, Harvest makes homes more sustainable and affordable, while lowering costs for the project developer. I thank KB Home and the operations team at Villa Ticino for their great partnership on this project. And the Gold Nugget Award jury for recognizing Harvest’s game-changing potential for affordable and grid-friendly home decarbonization.”
“Gold Nugget Award winners reflect our industry’s best, brightest, and most innovative architects, planners, and builder/developers,” said Judging Chairman and Gold Nugget ceremonies administrator Lisa Parrish. “We salute these creators for their excellent work in a year where inspiration, generosity, and results were essential to our industry’s advancement.”
KB Home partnered with Harvest to install its smart HVAC heat battery in their Terra at Villa Ticino development in Manteca, CA. The Harvest system will reduce building energy code compliance costs, make meeting Energy Star and Zero Energy Ready standards easier and cheaper, and earn higher bonus rebates from the California Energy Smart Homes program. It shifted 84% of the energy used for heating and hot water to off-peak times enabling low-carbon, low-cost operation.
The Harvest Pod® operates a heat pump to store heat when solar electricity is cheap, clean, and plentiful. Stored heat is distributed from the heat battery as space heat and hot water whenever needed – especially in mornings and evenings when people rely on their heating and hot water and the grid is dirtier and more expensive. The system cuts emissions by 90% compared to gas, 40% lower than an equivalent heat pump system. And it lowers monthly heating and hot water bills by up to 30%.
ABOUT HARVEST
Harvest, the leader in thermal storage for residential HVAC, developed and commercialized its breakthrough Smart Thermal Battery™ for affordable, low-carbon heating, cooling, and hot water. The award-winning, cloud-enabled Harvest Pod® uses software, sensors, and controls to leverage the cheapest, cleanest electric rates for home heating and hot water. Deployed at scale, Harvest also supports a cleaner, more affordable, and more resilient electric grid.
Founded in 2019, Harvest has received numerous awards including being named to TIME’s Top GreenTech Company 2024 list and as a finalist for Reuters Global Energy Transition 2024 award. Harvest has raised nearly $11 million including support from the National Science Foundation, the California Energy Commission, Peninsula Clean Energy, Venture funds, and private investors.
ABOUT THE GOLD NUGGET AWARD
Now in its 61st year, GNA is the largest and most prestigious competition of its kind in the nation. It honors design and planning achievements in community and home design, green-built housing, site planning, commercial, retail, mixed-use development, and specialty housing categories. Winners this year were chosen from over 675 entries from around the world.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2403e3d5-d9af-4919-bb22-16a89dbd226b