As we move through 2025, climate hardware is no longer a promise for the future; it’s happening now. In this special episode of Hardware to Save a Planet, host Dylan Garrett revisits 11 trailblazing guests who are turning bold ideas into real-world impact. From ocean carbon measurement to truck electrification, next-gen cement, and even cooling the planet with balloons, these founders share a pragmatic drive to solve today’s toughest climate challenges, proving the future of sustainability is being built right now.

Here’s a list of guests featured in this episode:

• Allan Adams, founder and CEO of Aquatic Labs
• Scott Mercer, Founder and CEO of Focused Energy
• Luke Iseman, founder of Make Sunsets
• Curtis VanWalleghem, Co-Founder and CEO of Hydrostor
• Cole Ashman, CEO and founder of Pela Energy
• Greg Williams, VP of Product at Sublime Systems
• Jason Chua, Chief Product Officer at Range Energy
• Nehali Jain, Chief of Staff at Antora
• Randol Aikin, founder of Remedy Scientific
• Ross Bonner, CTO and co-founder of Transaera
• Johanna Wolfson, Co-founder and General Partner at Azolla Ventures

Allan is working directly with ocean carbon removal companies to understand their measurement needs. Curtis spent years in pilot projects before scaling to commercial projects. Cole designed Pela to work with existing home electrical systems. Greg partnered with cement majors instead of trying to compete with them. Jason embedded his team with trucking fleets to understand how they actually operate. Luke is deploying his solution today while the rest of us are still debating it. Nehali is already shipping thermal batteries to industrial customers. Randol has systems for cleaning up contaminated sites. Ross has designed a simple drop-in replacement. And Scott is having commercial conversations with utilities about gigawatt-scale fusion plants.


Episode Resource

• Allan Adams, founder and CEO of Aquatic Labs
• Scott Mercer, Founder and CEO of Focused Energy
• Luke Iseman, founder of Make Sunsets
• Curtis VanWalleghem, Co-Founder and CEO of Hydrostor
• Cole Ashman, CEO and founder of Pila Energy
• Greg Williams, VP of Product at Sublime Systems
• Jason Chua, Chief Product Officer at Range Energy
• Nehali Jain, Chief of Staff at Antora
• Randol Aikin, founder of Remedy Scientific
• Ross Bonner, CTO and co-founder of Transaera
• Johanna Wolfson, Co-founder and General Partner at Azolla Ventures
• 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.

Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• Going Big on Clean Energy with Small Fusion Reactors with Robin Langtry, Co-Founder and CEO of Avalanche Energy
• The Role of Energy Storage Systems in Combating Climate Change with Mike Wietecki of Powin and John Thomas of ESS
• Marine Electrification to Reduce Costs and Environmental Damage: A Conversation with Marcelino Alvarez, CEO of Photon Marine
  
  

If you have an interesting hardware solution to the climate crisis and would like the opportunity to share this with our audience, please complete this Guest Application form: https://fame.so/syn