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Hannun: Dandelion scaled from 2 to 14 drilling rigs in 18 months

Kathy Hannun · Tapping the heat beneath your feet with Kathy Hannun of Dandelion Energy · Jun 8, 2023 · at 20:45

Kathy Hannun is the founder of Dandelion Energy, a residential geothermal heating and cooling startup spun out of Alphabet's X.

0:00 / 0:17exact quote · 18.0s
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“So to give one example, only 18 months ago we had two drilling rigs of Standaline, just small rigs that we've Adapted to be optimized for geothermal in small suburban residential yards. So we went from having two to now we have 14 running full time”

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More from Kathy Hannun

Assertion Contradicted
Geothermal cuts home heating operating costs to one-fifth of fossil fuels
“If you look at, for example, in the Midwest, comparing using a fuel to using geothermal, your operating costs, so how much you have to actually spend to heat your home, it's maybe a fifth with geothermal. It's similar in the Northeast, and emissions-wise is si…”
Kathy Hannun Jun 8, 2023 ▶ 2:50 Tapping the heat beneath your feet with Kathy Hannun of Dandelion Energy
Assertion Supported
Hannun: Geothermal ground loops last as long as the home
“Whereas if you invest in putting in ground loops, and we can talk a little bit more about what that entails, but if you invest in that infrastructure so that you can access all of that free heating energy that's already in your yard, then you can draw on it es…”
Kathy Hannun Jun 8, 2023 ▶ 4:09 Tapping the heat beneath your feet with Kathy Hannun of Dandelion Energy
Insight
Google X targets software moonshots requiring massive upfront capital investments
“The issue was, you know, X really looks for a very specific type of project. Their ideal project is something like the self-driving car, Waymo, where you have to invest a lot of money up front to create, ideally, something software or software adjacent, like a…”
Kathy Hannun Jun 8, 2023 ▶ 10:25 Tapping the heat beneath your feet with Kathy Hannun of Dandelion Energy
Insight
Hannun: Operationally intensive geothermal was a better fit as a startup than Google X project
“And for geothermal heat pumps, it involved things like drilling deep holes in homeowners yards, It was operationally intensive, and I should also mention you didn't need a billion dollars up front to get started. It was the type of problem that seems like it w…”
Kathy Hannun Jun 8, 2023 ▶ 11:08 Tapping the heat beneath your feet with Kathy Hannun of Dandelion Energy
Assertion Supported
Hannun: Dandelion's financed geothermal was cash flow positive versus fuel oil
“We launched with a financing option. So from the beginning, homeowners that signed up with us Would come out ahead. Like, you could come out cash flow positive against fuel oil”
Kathy Hannun Jun 8, 2023 ▶ 15:03 Tapping the heat beneath your feet with Kathy Hannun of Dandelion Energy
Assertion Not checkable as stated
In-housing installation labor improved Dandelion Energy's unit economics despite capital intensity
“It's true that having a model where you're insourcing the labor is more capital intensive, but the economics of each install were also much better. So it ended up being a financial net positive for the company, even though it did require us to, yeah, raise the…”
Kathy Hannun Jun 8, 2023 ▶ 17:45 Tapping the heat beneath your feet with Kathy Hannun of Dandelion Energy
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