David Schwarzbach *97, left, and Brian Parsonnet ’78 (Courtesy Ice Energy)

Résumés:  

Parsonnet co-founded Ice Energy in 2003; ­developed new industrial automation and aerospace technologies at Honeywell; majored in electrical ­engineering and ­computer science.  

Schwarzbach joined Ice Energy as CFO in 2008; worked on energy and nuclear ­policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council and in finance on Wall Street; Wood­row Wilson School M.P.A.

MELTING ICE, SAVING ENERGY  

The idea behind Ice Energy’s technology, meant to cool small buildings cheaply and efficiently, is deceptively simple: Use energy at night when demand is low — and power is cheaper — to freeze water in refrigerator-like boxes called Ice Bears, which connect to existing air-conditioning systems. During the day, when demand for energy is high, the system bypasses the grid for up to six hours and uses the melting ice to cool refrigerant for a building’s air-conditioning system. The principle already had been in use in skyscrapers for several decades. Parsonnet’s breakthrough was to figure out how to make it work for smaller buildings, which comprise the bulk of commercial real estate.  

EASING UP ON THE POWER GRID  

Ice Energy sells its Ice Bears in bulk to power companies. The utilities install them at customer sites and, using networking technologies created by Parsonnet, manage them as a single unit — much as a utility company manages a single coal-burning power plant. Utilities reap the benefits of lower demand during peak energy times, and customers benefit from lower energy bills, saving from a few hundred to several thousand dollars a year.  

COOLING SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA  

Earlier this year, the Windsor, Colo.-based company signed its first major deal with Southern California Public Power Authority, which is now installing 6,000 Ice Bears at 1,500 locations near Los Angeles. If talks with other utilities prove fruitful, Ice Energy could help states like California meet renewable energy goals by enabling them to put energy created by nighttime winds to use freezing the water in Ice Bears. Schwarzbach says there’s a certain elegance in using ice to solve today’s energy problems. “The idea of using ice to cool buildings is very old. The Romans did it,” he says. But finding an efficient and cost-effective way to do it in modern times required innovation. “The way Brian integrated all these individual units into one resource for utilities — that’s his genius.”