Gradient Comfort

Gradient Comfort (operating as "Gradient") is a San Francisco-based clean energy hardware company founded in 2017 that manufactures innovative window-mounted heat pump units designed for whole-building heating and cooling. Their flagship product, the All-Weather 120V™ window heat pump, installs in under 30 minutes without contractors, permits, plumbing, or electrical upgrades - plugging directly into a standard 120V outlet. The units use R-32 refrigerant, which has 68% lower global warming potential than conventional refrigerants, and can reduce building carbon emissions by up to 95% compared to traditional fossil-fuel heating systems. The horseshoe-shaped design sits in a window without fully blocking the view, providing both heating and cooling year-round in a single unit.

Gradient's primary market is the vast stock of older multifamily residential buildings - apartment complexes, public housing, dormitories, and affordable housing - that were built around steam boilers and lack modern HVAC infrastructure. These buildings are notoriously difficult and expensive to electrify via conventional minisplit or ducted systems. Gradient's window units sidestep those barriers entirely. The company has secured a $24 million contract with the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) to deploy 10,000 units in public housing, and has run pilots in affordable housing complexes in California and with colleges and universities. Their new "Nexus" software platform links all units in a building, giving property managers energy guardrails, usage controls, and demand-response capabilities that can reduce consumption by 25% or more.

Gradient is strategically significant to the US energy supply chain because it addresses one of the hardest-to-decarbonize sectors - older urban multifamily housing - with a low-cost, low-disruption electrification pathway. By enabling demand response at the building level, Gradient's networked heat pumps can also help stabilize the grid during peak demand events, making electrification more grid-friendly rather than burdensome. With $61 million raised and major institutional contracts underway, Gradient represents a critical bridge between clean energy equipment manufacturing and the mass-market building decarbonization needed to meet US climate goals.