This startup's energy-efficient innovation is a green alternative to air conditioners

Air conditioners pose a major stumbling block to becoming carbon neutral. Accounting for 7% of global electricity consumption and 3% of carbon emissions (IEA), ACs are prone to triggering a positive feedback loop i.e. as temperatures get warmer in the summer, more AC usage will contribute to higher carbon emissions. Moreover, any leakage of HFCs, which are potent greenhouse gases, also contributes to global warming.

Hyderabad-based startup, Ambiator, offers alternate cooling solutions that the company claims use 80% less electricity. Its flagship product Ambiator 5TR is a modular, scalable cooling solution for residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial use.

5TR refers to a cooling capacity of five tons of refrigeration, where a ton of refrigeration is the measurement of the heat-extraction capacity of cooling and refrigeration equipment.

“Our embodied CO2 is about 512 kg, and every year, with 4,000 hours of use in Hyderabad, we prevent 25,000 kg of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. All this while reversing the damage done by urban heat islands and zero use of compressors and harmful refrigerants,” Ambiator Co-founder Jeeten Desai tells YourStory.

Ambiator was part of YourStory’s Tech30 cohort of most promising startups, unveiled at TechSparks Bengaluru 2024.

Journey to clean cooling

Since 2008, Tiger Aster worked in his father Sukhdarshan Dhaliwal’s factory manufacturing cooling solutions for buyers based on requests. However, the process was slow as engineering sophisticated designs would take between 9-18 months.

“We developed custom energy-efficient HVAC equipment including air handlers, fresh air systems, heat recovery units, and dedicated outdoor air systems. These have mostly been used in commercial and industrial settings,” says Aster, Co-founder, Ambiator.

However, the business wasn’t too scalable, and in 2021, the father-son duo decided to make a template for cooling solutions. The next year, they held a demonstration of the prototype which impressed Desai, who had been an advisor to a family office in Hyderabad.

Desai decided to partner with Aster and pooled some of his capital. In October 2022, they formalised Ambiator. It took the three-membered team nearly 2.5 years to bring the product to the market.

How Ambiator 5TR operates

The product operates on dewpoint regenerative cooling technology. “At the heart of the Ambiator 5TR is a heat exchanger that works in all hot and dry climates where air and water don't meet,” explains Desai.

The process involves two stages. In the first stage, the air from outside is filtered and passed through the heat exchanger where much of the heat is transferred to the water. The startup claims its proprietary heat exchanger gives air conditioning-like cooling using 80% less electricity.

“It's very similar to you wearing a surgeon's glove and putting your hand in a cold ice bucket. Your hand will get cold but not wet,” the co-founder explains.

“The second stage is a normal desert cooler principle where we have a large mass exchanger. It's just a cellulose pad which has water dripping from the top. This cooled air from the first process of dry cooling passes through it and further reduces the temperature,” Desai adds.

He further noted that the entire system can cool indoors comparable to an air conditioner. “If the temperature outside is 45 degrees Celcius with 30% relative humidity, we can actually reduce indoor temperature to 18-20 degrees Celcius inside.”

Ambiator 5TR is compatible to run on solar energy and is suitable for hot/dry regions. In offices, the heat exchanger is centralised, with ducts bringing air into all rooms.

"The Ambiator 5TR exhausts air, which is cooler and more humid than the ambient air, which is the reverse of urban Heat Islands for which ACs are responsible. Urban Heat Island is where the outdoor unit of an AC exhausts air at a much higher temperature than the ambient requiring more cooling," says Desai.

Also Read

With AI- and IoT-enabled solutions, Enlog helps businesses lower their electricity bills

Growth and future

The global climate tech market is projected to soar to $182.54 billion by 2033, according to a report by Future Market Insights. In India, the air conditioning sector is dominated by companies including Voltas, Daikin, Bluestar, Seely, Oxycom, BlueFrontier, and Symphony.

The bootstrapped company is on the lookout for investors to fund its growth. The team is looking to raise around $7.5 million.

Operating on a B2B model, the company has six clients, including Mahindra LifeSpaces, Selco Foundation, Brigade Group, Mapro, and RN Filters, and a few individual buyers 

It has currently sold 13 units, each priced at Rs 3 lakh, and is in the process of closing more contracts.

“Ninety percent of our manufacturing is outsourced; we either pay per hour or per piece. Design and engineering of key components is done in-house,” says Desai.

“We are now in the process of onboarding channel partners in cities and states to ensure we are able to scale up and focus on streamlining the supply side of things,” he adds.

The startup currently caters to Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh markets, and is trying to find local channel partners in Gujarat, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh.

It plans to launch its second product, Space Cool 1.5 TR, which solves for hot, dry, humid, and cold conditions. Ambiator aims to launch in the next 2-2.5 years.

(The story was updated to remove funding data requested by the company.)