Zero-Energy Cooling for Climate-Resilient Cities

1. Executive Summary.

ThermoShade
ThermoShade was founded with the mission to make our outdoor spaces more comfortable and safer for people to work, learn, and play, and ultimately to make our cities more resilient to global warming. Ashleigh Seely, as ThermoShade’s Head of Operations, is developing passive cooling panels which use no energy, no water, and can affix to a variety of shade structures to provide more effective thermal relief to users on a hot day. By combining shade with two key technologies, ThermoShade can turn a hot 100*F+ day into a comfortable space for community members with zero energy use.
With support from multiple private entities, ThermoShade is addressing both environmental and social equity components of sustainability as they deliver a zero-energy, zero-emission adaptation solution to increasing urban extreme heat in underserved communities.
Ashleigh, along with her team from Anderson School of Management and Samueli School of Engineering, entered the Easton Technology Management Center’s Cross-Campus Innovation Challenge (Spring 2022) where they placed 2nd in the sustainability category and won $10,000 in non-dilutive grant money to create a prototype. Ashleigh is working with an affordable housing developer to install ThermoShade’s panels on the roof of a new development in Van Nuys—a neighborhood in LA which has an average hot season of three months with highs well over 90*F.

2. Importance.
Extreme heat kills more Americans than any other climate hazard, claiming at least 5,600 lives each year. While the climate is warming, COVID has shown how important it is to spend time outside in the fresh air. Today, office buildings are investing in outdoor amenities to entice workers back to the office, schools want kids to learn and play outside, and affordable housing developments are looking for ways to make their outdoor communal space more useable in dense urban environments.

It is estimated, by Governor Newsom’s Extreme Heat Action Plan, that all of California is affected by extreme heat. We see similar trends in additional regions such as Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas, while also recognizing the need to combat acute instances of extreme heat will extend to a majority of the United States. ThermoShade is a collaborative effort to serve this growing market, while solving a public health need in a sustainable way.

3. Impact and Reach.
ThermoShade is intended to prove a no-energy application of cooling technologies that will make traditional shade structures more effective for users in an increasingly hot climate. In developing our cooling panels, we will measure success by:
a. Building a structure that requires no external energy use (from public utilities)
b. Cooling the protected footprint significantly more than a traditional shade structure (i.e., roof) alone
c. Producing no carbon emissions
Specifically with regards to the Easton Cross-Campus Competition, we were selected as finalists and I presented in front of a panel of judges who granted us 2nd place. We see our product applying to anywhere in the United States that must adapt to extreme heat conditions, focusing on the sun belt first. Our mission is not only to provide extreme heat adaptations that require no energy or water to promote sustainable use of materials and resources, but also to promote equity and environmental justice by targeting affordable housing developers and community partners to serve pedestrians in historically underserved areas without existing natural shade cover (like trees). This is why we are partnering with Daylight Community Developments to install ThermoShade on their new multi-floor apartment building in Van Nuys.

4. Collaborators.
Ashleigh Seely, Head of Operations, Los Angeles –
o Board Fellow and Consultant on water conservation social enterprise with TreePeople
o Strategic Summer Consultant with National Park Service
o Former Program Manager, Operations at Amazon
o UCLA Anderson School of Management, University of Pennsylvania
Dan Coplon, Interim CEO, Los Angeles –
o Business Development and Product Management at VR startup, Within
o UCLA Anderson School of Management, University of Maryland
Emily Dinino, Head of Finance, Los Angeles –
o MBA Associate at Rocana Venture Partners
o Former CFO at Refridge-a-Dore Rentals
o UCLA Anderson School of Management, Vanderbilt University
Safia Mirabella, Head of Marketing and Sales, Los Angeles –
o Former Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility at ZipRecruiter
o UCLA Anderson School of Management, UCLA
Onja Davidson Raoelison, Consultant, Product Engineer, Los Angeles –
o Former civil engineer working towards her PhD in Civil & Environmental Engineering
o LEED Green Associate, identified certification benefits of ThermoShade as part of a larger development
o UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, ESTP (Paris)

Our team also has a multi-disciplinary advisory panel and corporate partnerships with Honda North America, 3M, Daylight Community Developments, TUUCI Manufacturing, and Phase Change Solutions. I developed partnerships with several organizations such as the Global Cool Cities Alliance and LAStreets as well as pursued partnerships with affordable housing developers to understand how our product can serve the needs of that target population. I met with many academic and technical experts to validate and learn about new cooling technologies that could be incorporated into a shade structure. Ongoing, I have a working relationship with Honda to manufacture our first panel iterations at no cost.

5. Your Role Well Defined.
I am the Head of Operations for ThermoShade. While this project began as a research-based Capstone Project for Anderson’s Business Creation Option (BCO), our team is going beyond the graduation requirements by entering into Easton’s Cross-Campus Innovation Challenge, focused on Sustainability, with the intention to formally incorporate as a business and construct a pilot structure for use in an affordable housing development. am leading the effort, alongside our advisors, to manufacture and install a prototype structure. I am solely responsible for creating the business’s operating plan, pilot testing plan, prototype production schedule, and will be responsible for creating an ongoing production schedule at-scale.

6. Optional Next Steps.
We require approximately $50K in initial funding through grants or competitions to enable our pilot plan with Daylight Community Development. I am working with Honda to manufacture our first panels for small-scale testing by the end of May. We are pre-approved and reviewing permitting requirements to install our first prototype in Van Nuys by October 1, 2022.