70+% of energy usage in the typical home comes from heating, cooling, and water heating. 2.9% of household income is spent in New York on electricity each year. Add in heating oil and home ownership becomes very costly, very quickly. Dandelion Energy has built a geothermal system that replaces a home’s existing air conditioning and heating systems by placing underground pipes below your property. At a basic level, in the winter, the pipes push heat stored in the ground into your home and in the summer, the pipes take away heat from your home. As society shifts away from a dependency on fossil fuels, customers are able to take advantage of federal, state, and utility subsidy programs that are available to reduce the cost of installation and upgrade for less than what they are paying now monthly.

AlleyWatch caught up with CEO Michael Sachse to learn more about the promise of widespread geothermal adoption, the company’s future plans, latest round of funding from investors that include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, GV, NEA, Lennar Corporation, Collaborative Fund, Building Ventures, Catchlight Ventures, and GroundUp.