Earlier this month I was able to interview Jane Melia, founder of Harvest Thermal, a product that has been getting a lot of accolades and the latest product we are bringing to the Small Planet Supply line-up. I was curious about the story behind the product, how the system works and how the product is evolving to benefit both consumers and the environment.

How did you come up with the idea for Harvest Thermal?

Small Planet Supply Blog | Thermal Harvest | Jane Melia — Jane Melia, co=founder Harvest thermal

So, it was back in 2018, Pierre and I had an aging gas furnace. Pierre is the co-founder Harvest Thermal and my husband. I’ve worked in clean tech business since 2008 and there was no way I that wanted to replace it with a gas furnace and Pierre felt the same. When we worked on how we could replace it, the solution was to install a heat pump. That meant a heat pump for space conditioning and a heat pump with a tank for hot water. Those devices would typically run at night and in the morning which is when the need for heating and hot water is the greatest. There is no solar power at nighttime, which that meant if we wanted to use renewable and cleaner electricity then we’d need to have a lithium-ion battery.

Small Planet Supply | Blog | Gas Meter with red x

By now we’re realizing we’re not the only people on the planet who want or need to get rid of gas in their homes, and we’re doing the calculations and there is no way just using a lithium-ion battery solution is scalable. Buildings are responsible for one-third of emissions and homes are responsible for half. Two-thirds of the energy usage is for heating and hot water which is often provided by burning gas or fuel in our furnaces, boilers, or water heaters.

Our initial personal problem expanded to a bigger opportunity. It was not just about us, it’s about, “let’s find a way to streamline this.” We will not fix be able to fix climate change if we’re not able to find a solution that people can afford and that can scale. We wanted to find a way to streamline the systems in a home while reducing carbon emissions and providing So, we went back to first principles, which is: one heat pump, one tank, a control unit, to do everything you need for heating, hot water, and storage. So, we pulled that together and installed it in in our house in 2018. It continues to work great, and we founded the company based on that initial prototype in 2019.

Can you describe how Harvest Thermal works?

Harvest Thermal enables you to reduce energy costs while reducing around 90% of your Carbon emissions.

Harvest Thermal delivers heating and hot water to your home, always use electricity when it’s cleanest and cheapest. This is enabled by a thermal battery. A Harvest System is made up of a heat pump, which is situated outside the home. The heat pump is going to extract heat from the air and deliver it to the home hot water tank in the house. We’re able to run that heat pump when electricity is cleanest, cheapest, and most abundant, often using renewable electricity from the grid in the middle of the day.

Then you have that hot water now in the tank and constant monitoring of it: how much hot water is in that tank, how much is being used, how much is being replenished and we’re planning to make sure that there is enough hot water in that tank to deliver heating and hot water to a home whenever it is needed.

So, the hot water is delivered using the regular system of DHW and the heating is delivered in two ways right now, either using a forced air system i.e., using existing duct work in the home. The duct work may need refurbishment, or not, depending on the home, but we use the existing duct system. There is no change to the look and feel of the home. Or we’ve now just started deploying it for radiant floors as well. Of course, all the Harvest Thermal system works with new homes as well.

The brain of the system is the Harvest controller which a unit about the size of a large shoe box that fits on the wall near your water tank, that is really orchestrating everything else. The conttoller tells the heat pump when to run, manages the state of charge of the tank, which is like a thermal battery and then delivers the heat.

How has the Harvest Thermal design evolved since your initial idea for the product?

the harvest thermal system’s evolution from a bunch of boxes and pipes to one compact easy-to-install unit

Well, initially our first design was a lot of stuff, a lot of pieces were assembled, in the house, on the wall, the circuit pump, the control board, it was a bit messy to look at in the beginning. As a result, it was more expensive to install because so many things had to be installed in the house.

Since then, we’ve worked to improve the ability to manage the state of charge of the thermal battery, so the electronics and the controls have really improved. We’re able to demonstrate, tweak and to continue to improve that, and we’ve also been to integrate it. This is where the magic of Evan Green, our CTO, who has a lot of experience in manufacturing and scaling innovative design comes in.

All the electronics and controls are integrated into a single unit, which is the Harvest Thermal pod. By selecting the highest warranty, highest grade components, and assembling in a factory, we can ensure the product is cost-effective, quality controlled and tested before it goes out to the customer. It also makes it is easier for the contractor to install because they just need to plumb it and connect it to the electrical system. The evolved system looks totally different from our first design and it’s looking clean. I think it looks nice.

What do you see as the major benefits of Harvest Thermal?

There are many things and I think we’re hearing it from our customers. For a lot of people, they’re excited to have gotten rid of the 2/3 of their energy use that was gas. They’re proud that their energy is now clean and the system connects them to electricity electricity when it’s cleanest without them having to think about it. So, a lot of people are proud of that. They’re also pleased not to have gas combustion engines in their home anymore.

Quiet Operation is an added benefit to moving to a Harvest Thermal System

My gas furnace used to be outside my daughter’s bedroom, and it would roar on every day at 5:30 and wake her up. So, I’m sure several people reading this blog have the same experience. It roars on and roars off, so you get this temperature fluctuation, you get these drafts. You get kind of used to it, but when you transition to a system which is quiet, which is steady, which is stable, you kind of feel that this is a nicer home experience. It’s just like many people driving electric vehicles feel that driving an electric vehicle is a nicer driving than experience than a gasoline car.

So, the getting rid of gas and the gas bill is nice. We’re saving money compared to using gas for the same services. That’s something that a lot of customers are proud of to say, “yes, I’ve got this electric system and its sophisticated, but you know what, it’s saving me money as well.” So, there are a lot of things. But those are the key ones.

For me, the quiet is especially nice. Sometimes in winter I will be sitting in my house in a t-shirt, and I’d go outdoors and realizes it’s cold outside. Because I didn’t have the cue of hearing the gas furnace turning on and off. I didn’t realize that my home was heating.

Who is the ideal customer for a Harvest Thermal system?

Somebody who has a home, it can be a single-family home, or a duplex, or a small multi-family home, any home where you have a separate individual heating system, because that’s where our system works well. It’s somebody who has a gas furnace getting a little old, so 15 years or more, 13 or more, who are considering replacing it, that’s an ideal customer.

What future enhancements, if any, do you have planned for Thermal Harvest?

We’re currently working on a user app. We want the homeowner to be able to track whether their system is currently running, how much emissions is being saved and how much money is being saving on energy. We also want the the homeowner to be able set the system on vacation mode or to temporarily increase capacity if visitors are coming. Or the ability to tell the system to prioritize savings or emissions.

An app to allow owner monitoring and control is currently in the works

So, the app can direct the system can adapt more to each homeowner’s priorities. This is something that we’re kicking off right now developing that user interface. Right now, we send out reports to customers, this will allow them to see the report themselves at any time of their choosing.

We’re now adding an optional heat pump booster. We currently work with the SANCO2 heat pump that works with many homes, what we’re adding a heat pump booster that has the benefit of adding cooling in the summer, and if the winter is extremely cold on those days of the year, which would be a handful of days of the year, it’s going to augment what would be provided by the SANCO2 You have an aid and ability to work for more homes and different climates. It also provides peace of mind, if there were a brutal winter, I’ve got the SANCO2 and I’ve got this thing which is always going to boost. It’s not going to be as low carbon, but it’s still efficient. What is the second device because the SANCO2 doesn’t do cooling.

For customers who don’t feel the need of active air conditioning, we’ve deployed night cooling in several homes. NIght cooling acts essentially as an economizer or a whole house fan, only quieter and more stable. When the night air is cooler than indoors on a hot summer’s day, night cooling will draw in the cooler air, filter it using a MERV 13 filter and distribute it throughout the home.

What is your vision for where Harvest Thermal will be in five years?

First, I really love heat pumps. Heat pumps are so much more efficient than the best gas furnace or the best electric resistance systems. They are the heroes of home electrification. Right now, we’re deploying what I call Gen 1 heat pump systems because they’re switching on, particularly the HVAC, when you need them, which is nights and mornings and then not really being able to capture the cleanest electricity and systems will place a lot of burden on the grid.

What I envision in five years that using thermal storage and making a GEN2 heat pump system which is smarter, more efficient and more cost effective becomes the acknowledged way to go and that Harvest Thermal will be part of making that happen. I anticipate that this strategy will be a best practice and that’s what’s going to be scaled. Because we need that because we want to be sure when we’re using electricity, we’re using it ina way that the electric grid can handle it. If we’re all using heat pumps at 5:00 am, 6:00 am, 7:00 am, that peak is going to be a burden on our electric grid, so it’s going to limit scaling.

In a more concrete vision, I expect within five years a contractor will pull up with a heat pump in their truck when your water heater or furnace brakes down.. Right now, we all must plan ahead if we want to use a heat pump heating system or water heater. If you wait until your heater breaks and its winter, you’re going to have to get something to replace it quickly, although some people can get by plug in radiators for a few days, which is a good way to go. So right now, the people we’re selling to are saying, “my gas heater is going to die in two to three years, and I don’t want another gas furnace”, so they’re thinking ahead. Ultimately, heat pump water heaters (and Harvest Thermal) will become the new standard and so it will be good for emergency replacements as well.

What impact to you think Harvest Thermal can have for reducing household carbon emissions?

Our systems are reducing from your heating and hot water compared to a gas-based line by about 90%, so that’s very substantial. When we think that heating and hot water are typically 2/3 of the energy of the use, more in colder climates, less in hotter climates, that is very significant. A lot of people, me included, have put solar panels on their roof, and that is great for the electric part of your load, which is about one-third.

With Thermal Harvest is you can reduce emissions of the rest by about 90%, with variation dependent on your grid, but regardless by a huge amount. That is transformational. It’s the biggest single thing you can do to reduce the carbon footprint of your home. The two-thirds of the energy of your home is heating and hot water is not solved by solar panels. It is solved by putting in a heat pump, better still by a heat pump with thermal storage.

In your opinion, what should potential customers consider when trying to determine if a Harvest Thermal is the right choice for them?

Harvest Thermal Pod - The control unit for the Harvest Thermal System

For me, it’s a no brainer, that Harvest Thermal is a really good choice. One questions might be about configuration the system to make your home as possible. Potential customers might want to consider their cooling need. Do you want a system as is? Do you want a system with night cooling? Do you want a system with an AC boost? So that’s something to consider as a family, as a household, what’s important to you? What you will need moving forward. Otherwise, it delivers the same functionality as any heat pump system in a way that’s going to save on energy costs and emissions. So, if you’re thinking to electrify, you really should consider a Harvest System.

Wondering if a Harvest Thermal System is the right product for your home

Complete the Information request form on our Harvest page.

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