New climate-tech companies in Massachusetts are changing the state's energy future
Across Massachusetts, new climate-tech companies are hiring, aimed at changing the state's energy future in many ways.
In a quiet industrial park in Wilmington, engineers at Cala Systems are reimagining one of the most ordinary appliances in your home: the water heater. But this is not about plumbing. It is about potential.
Cala builds smart, predictive heat pump water heaters that can learn a household's habits and decide when to heat water based on electricity prices, solar production, and even grid forecasts. The system uses refrigerant coils to move heat from the air instead of generating it directly, which makes it far more efficient than a standard electric heater.
Smart water heaters
"Water heaters are a battery for heat and they're in everyone's home," said founder Michael Rigney. "And that's incredibly powerful if we get it right."
The team said the units can be three to five times more efficient than traditional electric models. They can even coordinate with home solar systems or the electric grid to use energy when it is cleanest and cheapest.
"Our algorithms take in this information as well as electricity prices, home solar production to determine when it is most efficient to heat the water," explained Cala software engineer Phil Connaughton. "It is applied math in motion."
Rigney said Massachusetts was the natural place to launch the company. With support from local incubators and a growing pool of engineers, the state offers both technical talent and a shared sense of purpose.
"Here in Massachusetts we have the ecosystem to support a company like this," said Rigney. "We have the talent base, we've got amazing engineers, this is the best place to do energy and climate-related hardware in the U.S."
Growing clean energy economy
Cala's success reflects a much larger effort to grow the state's clean energy economy.
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, known as MassCEC, calls it the Climate Tech Corridor, a network of innovation that stretches from the Berkshires to the Cape.
"Greater Boston is a powerhouse of academic institutions and research," said MassCEC Senior Director Leslie Nash. "But then central and western Mass is really the epicenter of manufacturing capacity for the state, and then along our coastlines, we have access to really well known marine industries and offshore wind and marine industries."
That mix of research, manufacturing, and natural resources forms the foundation of a ten year plan to expand the clean energy economy. The state's new strategy was released in 2024 and aims to support more than 1,300 new climate technology companies in the next decade.
"It really maps out exactly what we are looking to do and how we are going to do it," Nash said.
MassCEC leaders say the initiative is about more than just climate goals. It is designed to create high quality jobs, attract private investment, and ensure that every region of the Commonwealth benefits from the transition to clean energy.
"Massachusetts does tough things," Nash said. "We have always done tough things. I think MassCEC is the innovation powerhouse of government. Our job is to accelerate the clean energy and climate economy here for economic growth."
The Climate Tech Corridor is helping turn ideas into industries and proving that tackling climate change is not only good for the planet. It is good for business.