CSU professor named to TIME100 Climate list for energy innovations

Media contact:
Jennifer Dimas
(970) 988-4265
[email protected]

A Colorado State University mechanical engineering professor was recognized Thursday in TIME100 Climate 2025 – the rare university innovator and only person from Colorado honored in an international vanguard of policymakers, researchers and corporate executives driving climate solutions through business channels.

Todd Bandhauer is cofounder and chief technology officer of a CSU spinoff company called AtmosZero, which designs industrial-scale steam power systems for a decarbonized future. Bandhauer, who holds 25 patents for his innovations, often collaborates with federal agencies and industry partners to develop thermal energy systems that dramatically reduce carbon impacts.

Bandhauer’s company is developing an electric heat pump that can replace gas-powered boilers in food, paper, textile and other industries. The work is a critical step to decarbonizing steam-heat production: In the United States, industrial heat makes up 13% of energy-related carbon emissions; nearly half of that comes from burning gas to make steam.

“Steam is the workhorse for industry, and it is a huge silent emitter of greenhouse gases that nobody thinks about. If we can reduce this, it will have a huge impact,” Bandhauer said. “The key is to make it economical. That is why AtmosZero is focused on making it more efficient and simpler to install so that it is easier to help industry electrify their steam.”

He added, “This kind of marriage between creativity and the practical is how we make the difference.”

AtmosZero reached a key milestone earlier this year. A prototype of its novel heat pump was installed at the flagship New Belgium Brewing site in Fort Collins. The system is expected to produce about a third of the well-known brewer’s steam, dramatically lowering its carbon footprint. The prototype was developed with a team of CSU engineering students in the Walter Scott Jr., College of Engineering.

Bandhauer said the electrification of heat is a promising approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and AtmosZero is working to further commercialize its product. With a factory in Loveland, the company has created 30 jobs so far and expects to create hundreds more.

“My goal is to develop real solutions that are also economically viable and easy to implement at scale,” Bandhauer said. “We want to get our systems into the field as quickly as possible so they can start contributing to challenges like reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Working with industry to develop new concepts – and prove them out before commercialization – is the niche I enjoy and want to continue to fill in my career.”

He underscored the role of land-grant universities, such as CSU, in translating university research and talent into the creation of high-quality jobs that re-energize American manufacturing and serve the American people.

Read the TIME100 Climate 2025 Q&A with Bandhauer here.