Hardware to Save a Planet

As climate change intensifies the frequency and severity of wildfires, the need for faster, smarter response systems is becoming urgent. Andrea Santy, Executive Program Director of XPRIZE Wildfire, is leading a global effort to detect and suppress fires within minutes, preventing environmental and economic devastation at scale.

In this episode of Hardware to Save a Planet, host Dylan Garrett speaks with Andrea about how satellite networks, AI, and autonomous systems are reshaping climate resilience. She explains the competition’s dual-track approach, the challenge of real-time detection across vast ecosystems, and the ambition of fully autonomous suppression within 10 minutes. The conversation explores how cross-border collaboration, scalability, and equitable deployment are essential to building solutions that can protect forests, communities, and the global climate system.

Hardware to Save a Planet is brought to you by Synapse. We are a global product development and engineering firm that partners with visionary companies to design, develop, and realize breakthrough hardware and AI-powered innovations that advance climate technologies.

To learn more about Synapse and potential business partnerships we offer outside of the podcast, please visit: https://www.synapse.com/contact/ to get in touch!

Utility-scale solar is racing to meet surging power demand, yet installation bottlenecks, including labour shortages, heavier panels, and inconsistent daily output, are slowing progress. Deise Yumi Asami and the team at AES Corporation are tackling this with Maximo, an AI-powered field robot that automates panel installation, thereby cutting build times while improving safety and deployment certainty.

In this episode of Hardware to Save a Planet, host Dylan Garrett speaks with Deise about engineering autonomous robotics for unpredictable outdoor environments. She explains how computer vision replaces fixed programming, how simulation and digital twins accelerated development, and why EPCs value certainty over simple cost savings. The conversation explores scaling hardware inside a Fortune 500 company and reflects on how aligning technical skill with climate impact can accelerate clean energy adoption.

Hardware to Save a Planet is brought to you by Synapse. We are a global product development and engineering firm that partners with visionary companies to design, develop, and realize breakthrough hardware and AI-powered innovations that advance climate technologies.

To learn more about Synapse and potential business partnerships we offer outside of the podcast, please visit: https://www.synapse.com/contact/ to get in touch!

Perovskite solar has long promised step-change efficiency, yet manufacturing hurdles kept it in the lab. Scott Graybeal and his team at Caelux are changing that. By adding a thin perovskite “active glass” layer to conventional silicon modules, the company unlocks 30–40% more power output while cutting overall project costs, without rebuilding the solar industry from scratch.

In this episode of Hardware to Save a Planet, host Dylan Garrett speaks with Scott Graybeal, CEO of Caelux, about why perovskites represent a structural shift in solar economics. Scott explains how tandem cell architectures split the light spectrum to dramatically increase energy harvest, and why adding just a few cents per watt can transform 25-year project cash flows and lower the levelised cost of energy.

He also outlines Caelux’s manufacturing roadmap toward high-volume production, applying Wright’s Law through disciplined process optimisation rather than one-off breakthroughs. The conversation also explores the company’s partnership strategy with incumbent module manufacturers, the changing geography of solar production, and why the next decade could determine whether solar becomes truly ubiquitous infrastructure.

Hardware to Save a Planet is brought to you by Synapse. We are a global product development and engineering firm that partners with visionary companies to design, develop, and realize breakthrough hardware and AI-powered innovations that advance climate technologies.

To learn more about Synapse and potential business partnerships we offer outside of the podcast, please visit: https://www.synapse.com/contact/ to get in touch!

Geothermal energy has long been overlooked, dismissed as a niche despite its ability to deliver constant, carbon-free baseload power. As data centre demand surges and grids strain under electrification, geothermal is re-emerging as a critical piece of the clean energy puzzle. Unlike intermittent renewables, it offers steady generation; if you can find it.

In this episode of Hardware to Save a Planet, host Dylan Garrett speaks with Joel Edwards, CTO and cofounder of Zanskar, about how AI and geoscience are transforming geothermal discovery.

Joel explains why the industry stalled after oil majors exited in the 1980s, and how Zanskar is solving the “needle in a haystack” problem of locating hidden reservoirs. By combining machine learning, proprietary field data, and physics-constrained simulations, the team has reduced exploration costs by up to 90% and drilled one of the most productive pumped geothermal wells in the United States at Lightning Dock. The conversation explores permitting bottlenecks, grid interconnection delays, and Zanskar’s ten-year vision to scale to one gigawatt of reliable and clean power.

Hardware to Save a Planet is brought to you by Synapse. We are a global product development and engineering firm that partners with visionary companies to design, develop, and realize breakthrough hardware and AI-powered innovations that advance climate technologies.

To learn more about Synapse and potential business partnerships we offer outside of the podcast, please visit: https://www.synapse.com/contact/ to get in touch!

Nuclear fusion is rapidly moving from theory to commercial reality. One kilogram of fusion material generates more clean energy than burning 10 million kilograms of coal.

The focus of Anthony Pancotti and his team at Helion Energy is on building the world’s first commercial fusion power plant, targeted to begin delivering electricity by 2028 under a landmark power purchase agreement. Fusion offers the promise of virtually limitless fuel, extraordinary energy density, and clean energy generation without greenhouse gas emissions or long-lasting radioactive waste.

In this episode of Hardware to Save a Planet, host Dylan Garrett speaks with Anthony Pancotti, cofounder and Head of R&D at Helion Energy, about why nuclear fusion is moving from lab experiment to commercial reality. Anthony explains Helion’s radically different, mass-manufacturable approach to fusion, the significance of its Microsoft power purchase agreement targeting 2028, and the remaining engineering, regulatory, and supply-chain challenges. The conversation explores how abundant fusion energy could reshape climate solutions, industry, and humanity’s future.

Hardware to Save a Planet is brought to you by Synapse. We are a global product development and engineering firm that partners with visionary companies to design, develop, and realize breakthrough hardware and AI-powered innovations that advance climate technologies.

To learn more about Synapse and potential business partnerships we offer outside of the podcast, please visit: https://www.synapse.com/contact/ to get in touch!