In this episode of Hardware to Save a Planet, host Dylan Garrett talks with Cole Ashman, CEO and founder of Pila Energy, about how his company is making home energy resilience affordable and accessible. Their innovative mesh battery system provides backup power during outages, enhances solar energy usage, and supports grid stability, all at a fraction of the cost of traditional home systems. Whether you rent or own, discover how smart, distributed batteries could reshape our homes and contribute to a cleaner, more reliable energy future.

What you will learn:

• How distributed mesh batteries provide 10x more grid storage capacity than current solutions
• Why Hurricane Katrina inspired a mission to revolutionize home energy resilience
• The "Maslow's Hierarchy" framework for climate tech adoption
• How plug-and-play battery solutions remove traditional barriers to home energy 
• Why distributed small batteries could be more valuable than large grid-scale storage
• How mesh-connected batteries enable smart energy management 
• The future vision of embedding battery storage in everyday appliances
• Why local climate action and community-level solutions are driving meaningful change
• How renters and apartment dwellers can finally access home energy storage benefits
• The critical balance between solving immediate user needs and broader climate impact
  
  

Cole Ashman is the CEO and Founder of Pila Energy, a pioneering company developing innovative mesh home battery solutions. With a background in both chemical and mechanical engineering, Cole has dedicated his career to advancing residential energy resilience, having previously held key positions at Tesla, where he worked on Powerwall, and at Span, where he developed smart electrical panels. 


His experience with Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans sparked a lasting commitment to improving infrastructure resilience, leading him to found Pela Energy in 2023. Under Cole's leadership, Pila Energy is revolutionizing home energy storage with its 1.6 kilowatt-hour distributed battery system, making energy resilience more accessible and affordable for homeowners and renters alike. 


Episode Resource

• Cole Ashman on LinkedIn
• Pila Energy Website
• Dylan Garrett on LinkedIn
• Synapse Website
• Hardware to Save a Planet Apple Podcasts
• Hardware to Save a Planet Spotify

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Previous guests include: Peter Reinhardt of Charm Industrial, Carlos Araque of Quaise, Noah McQueen of Heirloom, Areeb Malik of Glacier, Jeff Satwicz of Bigbelly, Abe Schneider of Natel Energy, Insiya Jafferjee of Shellworks, Paul Gross of Remora, Erika Boeing of Accelerate Wind and Daniel Betts of Blue Frontier.

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• Going Big on Clean Energy with Small Fusion Reactors with Robin Langtry, Co-Founder and CEO of Avalanche Energy
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