Pierre Delforge to accelerate product development and deployment

BERKELEY, CA, USA, November 30, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Harvest Thermal Inc tapped building decarbonization pioneer Pierre Delforge to be its Head of Operations and Product. At a time when building experts and policy advocates were laser-focused on energy savings metrics in 2015, Delforge, who was the Senior Scientist for Building Decarbonization at the Natural Resources Defense Council, saw a bigger opportunity. He understood that energy efficiency alone was insufficient to defuse climate change; instead, he knew it had to be combined with building electrification and clean energy utilization through demand flexibility.

Delforge’s formula for building decarbonization has been embedded into policy design at the state level and has become a model for the nation. “Building decarbonization means using the least amount of energy from the cleanest sources at the right time,” said Delforge. “That was my mantra at NRDC and is what excites me about guiding Harvest Thermal’s product development and market expansion. Marrying a smart device that shifts the electric load for heating and hot water with a thermal battery is the perfect embodiment of my vision for home decarbonization.”

Delforge played a leadership role at the NRDC where he was Policy Director for Clean Buildings advancing groundbreaking public policy in state and local building codes, federal and state energy efficiency standards, climate equity, and electric demand flexibility.

The smart Harvest Thermal heating and hot water system combines a cloud-enabled “Pod” with thermal storage to shift electric demand to times when electricity is clean, cheap, and abundant and provide heat and hot water whenever needed. The result is 90% lower carbon emissions compared to gas equipment, and savings of up to 45% on heating and hot water bills.

At Harvest Thermal, Delforge will oversee product development, field operations and public policy. Harvest Thermal is participating in the Inflation Reduction Act rulemaking and in the development of California’s Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) which treats home energy generation as grid flexibility assets. Delforge aims to utilize flexible demand policies around the country to accelerate building electrification.

Delforge brings a wealth of expertise on heat pump technology, grid interactivity, and public policy as well as decades of experience managing complex programs. He led the research group at NRDC that published the seminal paper on heat pump water demand flexibility. He was the architect and convener of an industry working group that developed the first specification for heat pump water heater demand flexibility known as JA13 (Joint Appendix 13 of the California Energy Code). He led NRDC’s advocacy for California's Building Energy code and city "reach" codes which resulted in the 2022 statewide code update that promotes heat pump adoption and more than 60 California cities adopting their own local decarbonization building codes.

Delforge came to NRDC from Hewlett-Packard in 2010 to lead NRDC’s advocacy on computer, battery charger and external power supply efficiency standards. At Hewlett-Packard, Delforge rose from project manager to Environment Sustainability Strategist with responsibilities for program management and sales operations during his 11-year tenure. Early in his career, he was a management consultant at Accenture and a software engineer at MSA in France. Delforge earned his Master of Engineering in information technology at CentraleSupélec and has a degree in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge.

At Harvest Thermal, Delforge sees the opportunity to make HVAC systems connected and smart to boost energy efficiency, cut their carbon footprint, and save consumers money enabling widespread adoption. “Just as Tesla put a computer and a battery on wheels, Harvest Thermal manages a heat pump and thermal battery with a connected computer to accelerate home decarbonization,” said Delforge.

Delforge is an avid runner who does his best thinking when he is on the trails in the San Francisco Bay area. Additional essays by Delforge can be found here.

David Tuft
Harvest Thermal, Inc.
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