Cooler Drinks Without Warming the Planet

About

ELIoT Energy is a Melbourne-based climate tech startup delivering device-level battery and IoT solutions that help the food and beverage industry cut energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Our flagship product is a plug-and-play smart battery that retrofits to commercial fridges, vending machines, and display units to optimise energy use and reduce reliance on grid power, particularly during peak demand when emissions intensity is highest.

Our team combines deep expertise in hardware & software engineering, energy systems, carbon accounting, and CX design. Founder David Hauser brings over two decades of experience across industrial design, energy efficiency innovation, and startup mentoring. We are uniquely positioned to help retail and hospitality businesses—often underserved in the energy transition—slash scope-3 emissions from point-of-sale appliances, a largely overlooked but significant contributor to retail emissions.

ELIoT Team: Shilpa Jhunjhunwala, David Hauser, Prof Mohamed Abdelrazek

Why Melbourne 

Melbourne’s innovation ecosystem, government support, and strong climate action agenda make it the ideal launchpad for our business. As winners of the City of Melbourne’s 2024 Open Innovation Competition, we are excited for the opportunity to play a major part in the City’s path to net-zero and affordable green energy for all of its residents. 

We're now based at FB IDEAs HUB in Port Melbourne, receiving great support from the FB IDEAs team with direct access to partners, policymakers, and customers committed to net-zero.

Challenge

Retailers and F&B brands face rising pressure to decarbonise, yet many struggle to reduce emissions from refrigeration and point-of-sale appliances. Globally, commercial refrigeration accounts for over 1 gigaton of CO₂-equivalent emissions annually. In Australia alone, there are an estimated 3 million commercial refrigeration units and vending machines—most running 24/7, often inefficiently and during peak demand periods when grid emissions are highest.

These appliances are difficult to retrofit and operate in tight margins. Until now, no affordable, scalable solution existed to reduce their energy and emissions footprint.

Solution

ELIoT Energy solves this challenge with modular, retrofittable batteries that reduce grid reliance by charging during off-peak or green energy periods and discharging when electricity is most carbon-intensive or expensive. Our proprietary smart-charging algorithm, powered by real-time energy and emissions data, maximises carbon savings while cutting electricity bills.

We deliver tangible benefits to customers:

• Up to 107% reduction in energy costs
• Up to 89% reduction in appliance emissions
• Zero operational downtime and no major infrastructure changes

Result

We’ve recently completed successful pilots with PepsiCo and Ritchies IGA in Victoria. The proof of concept, conducted at a Melbourne supermarket, showed a 41% reduction in a fridge’s carbon emissions and 35% savings in energy costs. We also ran scenario modelling for Adelaide’s cleaner energy mix, achieving 89% emissions reductions and 107% energy cost savings, thanks to negative energy prices on the spot price market.

Key milestones:

• Selected into PepsiCo’s APAC Greenhouse Accelerator 2024
• Winners of City of Melbourne’s Open Innovation Competition 2024
• Finalists at SIM-PAC 2024 in the Startup Category
• Selected for the Cleantech Power On Incubator
• Secured a grant for a pilot from the FB IDEAs and the Victorian Government
• 1st place at the Pitch for the Planet at the Australian Cleantech Showcase 2025

Looking Ahead

ElIoT Energy are scaling with major beverage brands and independent retailers across Australia, expanding our battery-as-a-service model to meet the growing demand for energy resilience and emissions reduction at the edge of the grid.

Contact

Linkedin Official Page: (2) ELIoT Energy: Overview | LinkedIn  

Website: https://eliot-energy.com/