How H&M will push suppliers to use thermal batteries for energy

The fashion company wants to decarbonize its textile vendors by switching them to heat brick startup Rondo Energy.

H&M Group is making the fashion industry’s first foray into thermal batteries as part of a plan to decarbonize its supply chain.

On June 19, the fashion giant’s investment arm revealed a previously undisclosed investment in “brick battery” company Rondo Energy. Together, the companies hope to replace the coal that powers H&M’s supplier mills with providers of renewable energy and Rondo’s thermal batteries for power storage.

H&M’s goal is to adopt 100 percent renewable energy and reach net zero by 2040.

Rondo of Alameda, California, claims its heat-retaining bricks are cheaper than fossil fuels and safer than lithium-ion batteries. The company uses electricity from renewable sources to heat thousands of tons of bricks up to 2,732 degrees Fahrenheit. The bricks are then used as heat batteries to supply hot air or steam for customers at a constant temperature. Less than 1 percent of the heat leaks out each day, according to the company.

Read more here via Greenbiz / Trellis.