Clemson research helps start new company

By Mike Switzer

Published April 19, 2024 at 6:30 AM EDT

Tim Howard, Facility Solutions Manager at the Clemson University Watt Family Innovation Center, and a co-founder of CarbonCents in Seneca, S.C.

We recently learned about another entrepreneurial venture that has emerged as a result of technology that started at one of our state’s research universities. The company’s system measures and analyzes a building’s power, temperature, water usage, and other environmental factors to create an energy usage index that helps organizations plan and achieve their sustainability goals. SC Launch found this technology promising enough to justify a loan through a $250,000 convertible note. Mike Switzer interviews Tim Howard, Facility Solutions Manager at the Clemson University Watt Family Innovation Center, and a co-founder of CarbonCents in Seneca, S.C.

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Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

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