Carbon Trust award goes to building emission reducing technology
University of Cambridge spin-out CamSemi has won this year’s Carbon Trust Innovation Award in the Buildings category for its work to reduce carbon emissions within buildings.
CamSemi’s technology is helping to manage rapidly growing electricity demand caused by IT equipment, photocopiers, video equipment, phone systems and mobile phones. Camsemi has succeeded in developing technology that cuts stand-by energy consumption by up to 90%.
Another Buildings finalist was London based Novacem, which has set itself the ambitious goal of turning cement from a source of carbon emissions into a material that is a net absorber of carbon dioxide.
Its new cement formulation is produced at low temperature using low carbonate raw materials. Furthermore, it hardens by absorbing atmospheric CO2 and therefore offers the potential to develop a range of ‘carbon negative’ construction products.
Bolton based finalist Web Dynamics has created an insulating membrane that controls the movement of water vapour and air, enabling a building to ‘breathe’ whilst also being comfortable and energy efficient.
Successful ideas
Described as a ‘space blanket for buildings’, the TLX Gold product even reflects heat back into the building to conserve maximum energy. Ideal for use in traditionally hard to insulate buildings, it has successfully been put to the test in the refurbishment of a number of historic locations, including the Thames Pumping House.
Finalist Manchester based Luminanz’s LED lighting solutions can be used in a wide range of situations from ambient lighting through to signage. Successful field trials in high visibility areas have resulted in energy savings of up to 59% over traditional lighting systems, whilst also providing better lighting quality.
Carbon Trust chief executive Tom Delay said: “The breadth and depth of innovation here is deeply encouraging. Whilst many of the technologies that we looked at are still in their infancy, others already demonstrate strong commercial potential. This clearly shows not only the UK’s capacity for scientific discovery and bright ideas, but also the fantastic opportunity that we have to make the clean tech sector a thriving part of the British economy.”
The full roll call of this year’s Innovation Award winners includes Artemis Intelligent Power Ltd for the overall winner and Power award, TMO Renewables for the Transport award and Oxsensis for the Industry award. For the innovative deployment of low carbon technologies, The Commercial Group was named private sector winner and Oxford City Council the public sector winner.
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