Three UK companies win £120,000 award for low-carbon ideas

The company LightFi uses WiFi radio and smart algorithms to detect live occupancy in any WiFi enabled space, it then automates lighting to turn off when the space is empty and provides data into how space is being used.

Endo Enterprises’ product EndoTherm is a liquid that improves the efficiency of wet central heating systems.

While Carbogenics has developed CreChar, a product made from low-value paper waste, such as paper cups, that boosts the efficiency of the anaerobic digestion process in producing biogas.

Each receives £40,000 no-strings attached funding from the Shell Springboard programme.

The three companies will compete against the three other regional winners at the national Shell Springboard final, taking place in London on May 10, 2018. The national winner will receive a further £110,000, taking their total prize to £150,000.

Alongside funding, finalists receive essential business advice; from growing their business and building their brand through to guidance on getting the most out of other Shell initiatives, like the Access to Finance Navigator, which helps low-carbon entrepreneurs identify and access new sources of funding.

Already 100 low-carbon firms have been awarded

Now in its 13th year, Shell Springboard has awarded £4m to almost 100 low-carbon entrepreneurs – and this support delivers results: 84% of winners are still in operation five years after starting-up, compared to a national average of approximately 45%.

John MacArthur, Shell Vice President, Group Co2, said: “The low-carbon ideas of these businesses are exactly the sort of innovations that we’ll see at the forefront of the energy transition. LightFi, Endo Enterprises and Carbogenics Ltd are notable for their impressive originality and inventiveness and I wish them best of luck for the national final.”

Shell Springboard is one way that Shell is assisting others with low carbon energy solutions. The company is also playing a part in the transition towards a low-carbon future and aims to cut the net carbon footprint of their energy products – measured in grams of CO2 per megajoule of energy consumed – by around half by 2050. By 2035, Shell aims to reduce it by around 20%.

Reportedly, this will be achieved through a range of means including providing lower-carbon fuels, supplying natural gas for power and operating more efficiently.