SPAN CEO Arch Rao

Watt It Takes

Our homes account for 20 percent of America’s greenhouse gas emissions. The fastest way to cut those emissions is to electrify the systems that heat, cool, and power our homes with heat pumps, solar, batteries, and EVs.

These technologies are the pillars of residential electrification. But, as more and more homeowners seek to electrify, they’re discovering that a key piece of antiquated technology in their homes is holding them back from their all-electric dream: their electrical panel.

That's why our guest, SPAN founder and CEO Arch Rao, is building the electrical panel of the future.

Arch and the team at SPAN decided it's time to reimagine the circuit breaker as an enabler of decarbonization. The Span panel gives detailed data on energy use from every device through a companion app – making it easy for homeowners to see how they're saving the most energy, how efficiently each appliance is running, and how to control distributed energy resources.

Emily sat down with Arch to talk about what it takes to turn the electrical panel into a product that people will actually care about – and love. They talked about the valuable lessons he learned during his first time as a co-founder of a startup, and how SPAN is making its mark in smart home electrification.

Powerhouse is an innovation firm that works with leading global corporations to help them find, partner with, invest in, and acquire the most innovative startups in clean energy, mobility, and climate. Powerhouse Ventures backs seed-stage startups building innovative software to rapidly decarbonize our global energy and mobility systems. You can learn more at powerhouse.fund, and you can subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.powerhouse.fund/subscribe.

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