Episode #46
Turning Waste Heat into Energy Abundance with Local Energy
Up to 50% of industrial heat is wasted. For decades, cheap electricity meant nobody bothered capturing it. That's changing as industry looks for more power, better efficiency, and lower emissions. Local energy networks turn that waste into value, letting neighbouring facilities trade surplus heat instead of losing it. The obstacle isn't proving it works - it's getting industrial neighbours to coordinate. Léo Lamy-Laliberté and Daniel Bastien are co-founders of Local Energy (www.localenergy.ai), a Mila-backed startup that's accelerating projects and optimizing them for maximum efficiency. They're using machine learning to deliver better returns and unlock even more ambitious projects. What we cover: Why cheap electricity left industrial waste heat uncaptured for decades The coordination problem: why this is a governance gap, not a technology gap Local Energy's two tools: "Builder" to design a network, "Operator" to run it Modelling 32 million project parameters instead of using spreadsheets How Canada compares to Denmark and Germany, and what policy shift would close the gap The path from a handful of Canadian sites to ten thousand MORE Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for Canadian climate tech funding, news, and trends: https://climatetechcanada.ca/subscribe Enjoying the show? Leave a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts! Feedback or guest ideas: hello @ climatetechcanada.ca
