MobileViews Podcast 410: Hawaii techies edition #1 – Robert Lee, Stow Energy, smart heat pumps!



This is the first of a planned series of MobileViews podcast focusing on technologists with Hawaii ties. This first in the series welcomes old friend Robert Lee who recently left a giant technology firm to join a start-up working on smart heat pumps. He has been in California for over a decade now but grew up in Hawaii and was a summer intern at a company I worked for years ago. He is currently the Lead Software Engineer at Stow Energy

  1. Robert’s current favorite gadgets
    Pinecil USB-C soldering iron
    Pinecil USB-C soldering iron
    Solder anywhere – plugs into a macbook charger, I have been using this for field repairs and to keep my workbench compact
    Mechanical keyboard enthusiasts might like this since it’s much less expensive and bulky than a traditional soldering iron
    Ninja Creami ice cream machine
    Ninja Creami ice cream machine
    Instead of slowly churning ice cream, this thing uses a 800 watt motor – like a shave ice machine at 10x speed
    My partner and I have been making fruit and non dairy desserts as a stay at home hobby
  2. Stow Energy Lead Software Engineer
    One heat pump for your home heating, cooling and hot water – hydronic technology used in big commercial buildings on residential scale
    Thermal storage – use excess solar energy or cheap time of use rates to time shift your heating and cooling energy usage
    Simplify home HVAC – people only replace critical things like furnaces in an emergency, how can we help people learn more about their home’s health and make maintenance / dealing with contractors easier?
    Embedded software, and also EE PCB design, and also cloud engineering, and also PEX plumbing, …
  3. Energy.gov Heat Pump Systems
  4. Google Project Sunroof

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

MobileViews Podcast from Audible.com