Clausius wins grant from NIREC

A Sparks company is one of three organizations to get a jump-start from the Nevada Institute for Renewable Energy Commercialization.

Clausius Systems Inc. was awarded seed funding and advisory services that include appointment of an experienced executive as an entrepreneur-in-residence to help bring its technology to market.

The company is developing a high-efficiency heat pump that integrates solar technology.

Executives of The Nevada Institute for Renewable Energy NIREC, for short estimated the value of the award to Clausius at $150,000.

The company will be under the wing of NIREC for a year.

In addition, they noted that Clausius can tap into NIREC's network of experts in clean energy technology and financing.

Other winners in the latest round of NIREC funding were Potential Difference Inc., a Las Vegas company that's developing a system to rapidly charge batteries, and the University of California, Davis, which is working on low-cost solar cells using single-crystal semiconductors.

NIREC said last week it's seeking other proposals from early-stage clean-energy innovations.

"With each call for proposals, we see a growing number of innovative and commercializable clean energy technologies under development throughout the U.S.," said Jim Croce, president and chief executive officer of NIREC, during a presentation to a clean technology conference in Southern California.

NIREC is a non-profit consortium of research institutions, utilities and financial firms. The U.S. Department of Energy is a major financial sponsor.

The organization is headquartered at Incline Village.