industrial-heat
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The Fusion Bet That Looks Like a Barbell, Not a Donut
Most fusion companies bend plasma into a ring. Realta Fusion is betting that a straight magnetic bottle - built for industrial heat first - can make the economics less contorted.
Zero Industrial Inc.
Zero Industrial is a Charleston, South Carolina developer that decarbonizes industrial heat using thermal energy storage (TES). Instead of burning gas, oil or coal to make heat and steam, its systems charge on cheap off-peak or curtailed clean electricity and discharge it as high-temperature heat. The company finances, builds and operates each project itself, then sells clean heat or steam to factories under long-term Heat-as-a-Service contracts with no upfront capital required from the customer.
Ted Kniesche
Ted Kniesche is the founder and CEO of Zero Industrial, a Charleston-based startup decarbonizing industrial heat by deploying commercially available thermal energy storage systems and selling clean heat and steam under long-term Heat-as-a-Service contracts. After two decades in clean energy development - including 13 years co-founding and building business development at Fulcrum BioEnergy - he launched Zero Industrial in 2024 with Jim McDermott and closed a $10 million Series A in April 2025 led by Evok Innovations.