Two unsolved crises
AI data centers are starving for power
AI campuses already consume 500 MW to 1 GW and are scaling toward 2 to 5 GW by 2028. Grid interconnection queues stretch five to ten years in most markets. Renewable energy is intermittent. Data centers require firm, 24/7 baseload power — and there is no clear path to getting enough of it.
The world is running out of room for its waste
The US alone generates over 300 million tons of municipal solid waste every year. Landfills are reaching capacity. Tipping fees are rising. Most of what communities throw away is buried, not used — a massive, untapped energy source sitting in every major metro.
Waste in. Power out.
A Cleen facility sits at the intersection of two supply chains — the municipal waste stream flowing out of a city, and the power demand growing inside a data center campus. We convert one into the other.
Firm baseload — dispatchable around the clock, every day of the year.
MSW diverted from landfills, with tipping fees as a second revenue stream.
Dual revenue from tipping fees and long-term power purchase agreements.
NE Pennsylvania. Massive data center build-out, large MSW supply, permitting-friendly.
Why plasma gasification
Conventional waste-to-energy burns waste and sells to the grid. Cleen takes a different path — near-zero emissions, behind-the-meter delivery, one customer at a time.
The two-stage process
Municipal solid waste is broken down in a gasifier, converting organic material into raw syngas. This stage handles the volume and feedstock variability of real-world waste streams.
Plasma torches operating above 5,000°C crack tars and clean the syngas to near-zero contaminants. This is where Cleen's approach differs sharply from conventional mass-burn plants.
Clean syngas drives combustion turbines producing 50 MW of firm baseload electricity, delivered directly behind the meter to the data center — no grid dependency required.
Cleen vs. the alternatives
Grid-dependent. Growing emissions scrutiny. No path to BTM data center power — and no near-zero emissions profile.
Intermittent by nature. Cannot deliver five-nines reliability without prohibitively expensive storage. Cleen is always on.
Reliable, but carbon-intensive and increasingly unacceptable for operators with net-zero commitments and stakeholder pressure.
After 2016, plasma WtE pivoted to hydrogen. No one is pursuing BTM electricity from plasma MSW gasification for hyperscale AI campuses. That is Cleen's opening.
Technology status: Cleen is at the concept stage. The two-stage plasma gasification approach draws on proven pilot-scale precedents. We are assembling the founding technical team and moving toward engineering design. We will not overclaim progress we have not made.
The window is open
Three forces are converging to make this the right moment for Cleen.
AI power demand is accelerating
Data center power demand is doubling roughly every 18 months. The gap between what data centers need and what the grid can deliver is widening faster than any single technology can close it. New solutions are not optional — they are urgent.
Pennsylvania is the right market
The NE Pennsylvania I-81 corridor — Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Schuylkill counties — has massive data center build-out, a large MSW supply, available industrial land, and a permitting environment that makes siting viable.
The field has moved on
After plasma WtE's first wave, the field pivoted to hydrogen. Nobody is pursuing BTM electricity from plasma MSW gasification for AI data centers at scale. That is Cleen's opening — and it will not stay open indefinitely.
Built to close
Eric Maida
Eric Maida is an enterprise sales leader with 13 years of experience closing complex deals and building trusted executive relationships across SaaS and AI. As Director of Enterprise Sales, he ranked among the top sales directors globally and achieved 133% of quota in FY25.
Cleen grew from a conviction Eric could not ignore: two of the defining crises of our time — the insatiable power demands of AI data centers and the mounting waste crisis straining landfills on every continent — are not separate problems. One demands a solution. The other is that solution. He founded Cleen to build the bridge between them.
BS Finance — California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Chief Technology Officer
Co-founder role · Open
We are actively recruiting a technical co-founder with deep expertise in plasma gasification, thermal systems, or advanced energy conversion. If you have built in this space and want to shape something from the ground up, we want to hear from you.
Let's talk
We are at the concept stage and moving fast. If any of the below describes you, we want to hear from you today.
Data center developers & operators
If you develop or operate data center campuses and are thinking about long-term power supply in the Northeast, let's have an early conversation. No commitment required.
Climate & deep tech investors
Cleen is raising a $5M seed round. If you invest in climate infrastructure and see the AI power gap as a generational opportunity, we'd like to meet.
Engineers & scientists
We are building our founding technical team. If you have expertise in plasma systems, gasification, or thermal energy conversion and want to shape something from zero, reach out.
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