A geothermal system includes a heat pump placed inside your house and pipes called "ground or earth loops" buried underground. National Geographic has a detailed write-up of how the technology works, but simply put, when it's hot inside your house, the pump absorbs the heat and dumps it into the earth. In the winter, it absorbs heat from the ground and pipes it into your home instead. That's made possible by the fact that the temperature underground remains relatively constant all throughout the year.

Unlike Waymo, another X spinoff that's operating under Alphabet, Dandelion will run independently outside the tech titan's umbrella of companies. It's now accepting inquiries from interested homeowners, starting with those located in upstate New York -- just type in your ZIP code on its website to find out if your area is already covered.