The U.S. consumes almost 2X more energy in the form of heat versus electricity, resulting in the generation of over a 100 million metric tons of CO₂ and the expenditure of $30B annually for the fuel burned to generate it. Heat supports many residential, commercial, and industrial needs in a landscape populated by many vertical markets each worth hundreds of millions to billions of dollars of consumed energy. Vertical markets include residential water heating, commercial laundries, textile production, agriculture, food processing, paper processing, and the chemical industry.

In addition there are a number of emerging markets which would be enabled by access to an inexpensive and reliable source of renewable heat. These include water desalination, solar air conditioning, and distributed electricity production with low-cost storage among others.