On November 18 BRITE Energy Innovators hosted BRITEnites Columbus, a gathering of energy leaders, startup founders, and community stakeholders invested in accelerating Ohio’s advanced energy future. The evening featured four impressive startup pitches followed by an engaging fireside discussion with Dave Mrowzinski, President, Renewable Natural Gas at IGS Energy, who shared insights on how organic waste can power a circular economy. BRITE’s partners made the evening a success, with attendees learning about energy innovations from wearable tech to green hydrogen, not to mention an astounding number of euphemisms about cow manure!
Here’s a recap of BRITEnite Cleveland:
⚡ Startup Pitches: Innovation on Display
The evening kicked with pitches by four BRITE companies advancing energy technology solutions:
Galvanix | CEO Jamie McKee
Galvanix developed a scalable furnace reactor technology that refines feedstock metals into the pure metals critical for technologies like wind turbines. This process onshores key metal production, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, and uses less energy than conventional methods.
Power to Hydrogen | Chief Commerical Officer Alex Zorniger
Power to Hydrogen is cutting the cost of clean hydrogen by 65% through a novel electrolyzer technology that boosts efficiency and optimizes performance with renewable energy. The company is deploying smaller-scale systems with major partners including Shell and AEP.
NavaFlex Inc. | CEO Dr. Suvankar Sengupta
NavaFlex is creating the next generation of wearable technology with a washable, safe, and flexible battery integrated into clothing. Their solution monitors biometrics for workforce safety, defense, and healthcare applications in a multibillion-dollar industry.
Wenalytics IoT Solutions | CEO Hriday Bharadwaj
Wenalytics provides a facility intelligence platform for the built environment, combining sensor networks with smart control software to optimize resource use and maintenance. Their approach shifts management of buildings like restaurants from reactive to proactive, improving efficiency and sustainability.
🐄 Renewable Natural Gas at IGS: Turning Waste Into Value
Dave Mrowzinski’s fireside chat with BRITE CEO Jade Davis highlighted how IGS Energy captures methane emissions from dairy farms as biogas, refines it into renewable natural gas (RNG), and integrates it into their energy offerings – reducing methane emissions and creating a circular carbon solution.
- Key Insights
- Methane capture delivers outsized climate benefits.
Unlike landfills, animal waste lagoons are largely unregulated, creating untapped opportunities for avoiding emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas 20–40x more potent than CO₂. IGS works with large dairy farms in Ohio and Indiana, targeting farms that can support biogas capture at-scale and leveraging compressed natural gas (CNG) stations and pipeline access for logistics and credit capture. - Innovation enables circularity.
RNG can be a tough sell against fossil gas, so technical innovations are key to scaling up RNG production and making it more economically viable for customers who prioritize sustainability attributes. IGS partners with a local supplier to deploy cost-effective small-scale upgrading systems and employs data-rich monitoring – 100+ sensors per site capturing readings every 15 seconds—to optimize performance and maintain strict chain-of-custody protocols. - Policy drives market viability.
The RNG business is heavily influenced by state and federal policy, with the majority of revenue coming from clean energy credits and incentives. Policy changes can introduce risk, making advocacy and engagement essential for long-term project success. - RNG is part of an “all of the above” energy strategy.
No single energy source like RNG will address the intersecting challenges of energy demand growth, grid reliability, and emissions reduction. But RNG powerfully exemplifies circular thinking – capturing energy from a byproduct, lowering methane emissions, and supporting farmers. IGS integrates RNG into its broader portfolio, which includes solar and conventional natural gas, as a strategic, long-term investment.
- Methane capture delivers outsized climate benefits.
“We’re focused on creating long-term value—for communities, the environment, and the energy system.”
Dave Mrowzinski
🚀 About BRITEnites
BRITEnites underscore our mission to accelerate the advanced energy economy by connecting bold ideas, breakthrough technologies, and forward-looking communities. From community-owned solar projects to next-generation advanced energy tech startups, BRITEnites highlight how Ohio can lead in building a competitive, smarter, and more resilient energy future.
✨ Stay tuned for more BRITEnite events as we continue to spotlight innovators shaping the future of advanced energy.
