Tackling Humidity: How Transaera’s Innovation Could Revolutionize Air Conditioning

We’ve all heard the saying, “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity,” and while it might be a bit of a cliché, it holds a lot of truth.

High humidity doesn’t just make us uncomfortable; it also puts significant strain on air conditioning systems. In fact, about half of the energy consumed by a typical air conditioner is spent just on removing moisture from the air.

For major companies operating vast warehouses, like Amazon, Walmart, UPS, and FedEx, managing this humidity has become a growing challenge, particularly as temperatures inside these enormous spaces can climb to dangerously high levels.

Enter Transaera, a startup that’s rethinking how we tackle humidity. The company is developing a new kind of air conditioner designed specifically for homes and apartments, using a proprietary material that effectively removes humidity before cooling the air.

With more than 2 billion people worldwide living in hot, humid climates without access to air conditioning, Transaera’s innovation could be a game-changer, both in terms of comfort and energy efficiency.

While the company fine-tunes its product for consumer use, it has already begun rolling out larger units for commercial buildings.

Just this week, Transaera installed its first dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS) on a customer’s rooftop. This system is designed to dehumidify fresh air before it enters the building, thereby reducing the workload on traditional air conditioning units.

Although the DOAS market is relatively small, it’s growing rapidly, and Transaera’s entry into this space marks an important step forward.

“DOAS is a small piece of the market, but it is a growing segment,” says Sorin Grama, co-founder and CEO of Transaera. “It’s just an easier entry point.”

Founded in 2017 in Somerville, Massachusetts, Transaera has already raised $7.5 million, including a $4.5 million seed round.

The company is currently in the process of raising an additional $6 million to support further field trials of its equipment.

At the heart of Transaera’s innovation is its proprietary material, which coats the heat exchangers of its heat pumps.

These exchangers look similar to a car’s radiator. In the company’s DOAS units, air is drawn into the system and passes over this special material, which effectively strips the moisture from the air.

The drier air is then cooled by evaporator coils before being released into the building.

Traditional air conditioning and dehumidification systems generate a lot of heat during the process of removing moisture.

Typically, this heat is wasted, but Transaera’s system cleverly reuses it. The company’s desiccant material, which is mounted on a porous wheel, absorbs moisture from the incoming air. As the wheel rotates, the moisture-laden desiccant passes through the warm air produced by the evaporator coils, which then drives the moisture out of the system.

This waste heat is effectively repurposed to enhance the system’s efficiency. In the winter, the system can reverse its process, maintaining indoor humidity levels while also warming the incoming air.

Many existing DOAS systems that sit atop commercial buildings also use heat pumps to dehumidify incoming air.

However, they often overly cool the air in the process, particularly during cooler seasons like spring and fall when full-blown air conditioning might not be necessary.

To correct this, these systems then need to reheat the air, usually by burning natural gas—a process that is both inefficient and environmentally unfriendly. Grama criticizes this approach, calling it “a really inefficient, stupid way of doing these dedicated outdoor air systems.”

In contrast, Transaera’s approach is much more efficient, using up to 40% less energy than the best DOAS systems currently on the market.

While the technology is currently only installed on one commercial rooftop, Grama assures that more installations are on the horizon.

The urgency for this innovation is clear: Humidity control is responsible for about 1% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a recent study—a figure that’s roughly half of what the entire aviation sector produces.

By cutting the energy required for dehumidification by 40%, Transaera’s technology could make a significant impact in reducing these emissions.

In an era where energy efficiency and sustainability are more crucial than ever, Transaera’s innovative approach to air conditioning and humidity control could be a key player in reducing our carbon footprint.

This isn’t just about keeping cool; it’s about making a meaningful difference in the fight against climate change. And that’s something everyone can appreciate.