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šŸŒ This week in Supercool: Deployed

Author

Josh Dorfman
January 27, 2026

This is Deployed ā€” Supercool's weekly newsletter tracking where the low-carbon economy is scaling up.

If it isn't operational, it isn't Deployed.

This week takes us to my old stomping grounds in Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood, where a new apartment complex runs on geothermal energyā€”even the rooftop pool. Nothing like that existed when I lived there. But that's the point: the low-carbon economy isn't about sacrifice. It's about modernization.

And this week proves itā€”from industrial heat batteries hitting 1,800Ā°C to Vegas casinos running on desert sun to Brazil's smallest city solving blackouts forever with a solar microgrid.

DEPLOYED

What went operational this past week.

U.S.

MGM Resorts reached 100% daytime solar on the Vegas Strip after its 115 MW Escape Solar plant came online in December. Combined with an existing 100 MW Mega Solar Array, MGM doubled its renewable access, while 400 MWh of batteries deliver stored clean power in the evening hours. The company also operates an 8.3 MW solar installation atop Mandalay Bay's convention center.

Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy just became the U.S. Defense Logistics Agencyā€™s (DLA) first island-mode military baseā€”a sub-$2M solar-battery microgrid switches to autonomous power during outages and runs for 14 days in conjunction with just one tank of diesel. Two 400 kWh sodium-nickel-chloride battery banks, combined with existing solar and backup generators. The base commander called it seamless coverage, "using our own generated power separate from the grid."

A Joule Hive thermal battery.

Electrified Thermal Solutions fired up the first commercial-scale electric heat battery delivering 1,800Ā°C temperatures for steel, cement, and glassā€”industries that burn 89% of their heat from fossil fuels. The 20 MWh Joule Hive at Southwest Research Institute charges straight from 13.2 kV grid power (no transformers needed), stores heat in conductive bricks, and pumps it out as hot gas up to 1,500Ā°C on demand. The modular system scales without limit and costs less than natural gas.

PureSky Energy commissioned its Heath Brook and Sand Brook solar farms in Corinth, NY, with a combined capacity of 12.92 MW, enough to power 2,725 homes. The projects will deliver $8 million in utility bill credits over 30 years. The upshot: 60% of the capacity is reserved for low- to moderate-income households under New York's Inclusive Community Solar Adder program. PureSky worked with local organizations to simplify enrollment so qualifying families can actually sign up (many community solar projects claim to serve low-income subscribers but make it nearly impossible to enroll). The farms will reduce CO2 emissions by 30 million pounds annually.

Evergreen Charter School in Long Island.

Evergreen Charter School's 85,000 sq ft building in Hempstead just became one of the East Coast's first mass timber K-12 schools. The five-story building, built with Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), serves 750 students in Nassau County's poorest ZIP code. Martin Hopp Architect designed it as a "teacher in itself" with signage explaining carbon math: 330 kgCO2e/mĀ² embodied carbon, 173 kWh/mĀ² energy use intensity (24% below baseline). 

Kaiser's new Lakewood Medical Officesā€”its largest Colorado investment in 15 yearsā€”features rooftop solar covering 50%+ of the building's power (nearly 1 million kWh annually). The 3-story modular building cut construction waste by 70% and doubled urgent care capacity for 36,000+ members. The facility features fossil fuel-free, all-electric systems throughout.

The Irving at Mile High Vista is one of the first projects funded by Colorado's Proposition 123 affordable housing initiative. The building features all-electric systems and permanently income-restricted units. Mayor Johnston is pushing "permanently affordable" as the antidote to Denver's housing crisis, where low-income units convert to market rate after tax credit periods expire.

The Riverie in Greenpoint.

The Riverie opened in Greenpoint with 834 apartments (250 affordable), 13,000 sq ft of retail, and 18,000 sq ft of waterfront parkā€”all heated and cooled by 320 vertical boreholes,, making it NYC's biggest residential geothermal project. Lendlease's all-electric towers (37- and 20-story buildings) cut HVAC emissions by 53% compared with gas boilers. Even the rooftop pool uses geothermal heating. The building is also connected to a five-minute ferry to Midtown. 

Wawa and Sheetz are proving that the convenience store EV model works, with 860+ fast chargers across Pennsylvania. Wawa operates 210 chargers at 175 locations, while Sheetz runs 650 at 95 locations and is targeting 50+ more "Rechargery" sites by the end of 2026. Clean bathrooms, made-to-order food, and 24/7 access turn 20-minute charging stops into profitable foot traffic. Both chains partner with Ionna for charging.

Around The World

Serra da Saudadeā€”Brazil's tiniest municipalityā€”hasn't had a blackout since its solar microgrid fired up last October. Before Cemig installed 500 kWp of panels and 2,500 kWh of batteries, outages disrupted vaccine deliveries at the health center. Now the system can island-mode the whole town for 48 hours without the grid. Cemig installed smart meters in every building and is eyeing replication in other small remote cities.

The Fish Market in Sydney has a Mass Timber roof.

The Sydney Fish Market opened with a 230-meter floating mass timber roofā€”594 glulam beams supporting 20,000 square meters and locking away 1,000+ tonnes of carbon. The 3XN / GXN collaboration designed it with solar generation, rainwater collection, and natural ventilation. Sydney officials are calling it the most significant harbourside building since the Opera House.

CATL's sodium-ion batteries just went commercial, the first in the world to hit mass production. The 45 kWh packs hold 90% charge at -40Ā°C and last 10,000+ cycles, solving lithium's cold-weather problem for light commercial vehicles. CATL calls it a "dual-star strategy" as lithium carbonate climbs past $20,000/metric ton, sodium uses salt instead of scarce metals, eliminating cobalt, nickel, and lithium.

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SUPERCOOL ECOSYSTEM

Operational updates from companies weā€™ve featured.

Cyclic Materials (Ep. #40: podcast | newsletter) closed a $75M Series C led by T. Rowe Price, pushing total funding past $162M. The Toronto company recycles rare earths from EV motors, wind turbines, MRI machines, and data center e-wasteā€”recovering 98%+ of materials while cutting carbon 61.2% and slashing water use to 5% of what mining requires. New capital funds the Mesa, Arizona, commercial-scale facility opening in 2026 and expands the Kingston, Ontario Center of Excellence. China controls 99% of global rare-earth supply, and less than 1% is recycled today, making Cyclic's hydrometallurgical process the only viable path to heavy rare-earth metals in the West.

Amazon piloted BrainBox AI's (Ep. #29: podcast | newsletter) autonomous HVAC management system at three North American grocery fulfillment centers, achieving a 15% energy reduction without affecting operational efficiency. The system learns building patterns in real time, constantly adjusting temperature and ventilation based on occupancy and weather. Amazon is now expanding to 30+ grocery fulfillment and distribution centers across the US, plus retail stores in 2026. The company is betting on scalable tech like BrainBox to hit carbon neutrality by 2040.

Bristol (Ep. #41: podcast | newsletter) City Leap launched the city's first area-based housing retrofit, investing Ā£25 million to bring North Bristol social housing to EPC rating C by March 2028. The program includes external wall insulation, new windows and doors, heat pumps, solar panels, and ventilation upgrades. The UK government's Warm Homes fund is funding efforts to prevent fuel poverty from forcing residents to choose between heating and eating.

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HORIZON

Not yet deployed, but weā€™re watching.

Mercer Mass Timber, North America's largest CLT producer, announced a $30M expansion of its Spokane Valley facility. Mercer bought the plant from Katerra after it went bankrupt in 2021 for $50M and has supplied CLT to Walmart's Arkansas campus and the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. The expansion bets on mass timber moving from high-end architects to volume builders as building codes catch up and contractors learn the system.

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