04 February 2010
A Birmingham based business with an innovative idea for tackling climate change last night won an award of £40,000 from Shell Springboard, a programme designed to promote the growth of the low carbon economy in the UK.
Aeristech Ltd received the financial boost for its Hybrid Turbocharger which eliminates ‘turbo lag’ and has the potential to save 25% of the energy of a conventional petrol engine. If widely adopted, this could have a substantial impact on the usage of downsized engines.
Turbocharged engines allow a smaller, more efficient engine to do the job of a larger one by supplementing its activity with additional energy boosts. Turbochargers take waste energy derived from car exhausts and use it to power the car’s activity. However, standard turbochargers cannot store energy, meaning that they’re always one step behind which leads to the infamous turbo lag. By storing waste energy for longer periods, Aeristech’s Hybrid Turbocharger eliminates turbo lag and could finally make it possible to downsize engines without sacrificing power or refinement.
The Shell Springboard programme, which has awarded over £1.3 million to 35 UK small businesses since it launched in 2005, this year celebrates its fifth anniversary. The programme encourages a positive business response to the challenge of climate change by providing a no-strings financial boost to ideas for innovative products and services that could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Bryn Richards, Director of Aeristech, said: “We have built a high performance turbocharger and are currently running two customer engine projects to achieve 25% emission reductions. Winning this Shell Springboard award is a welcome boost to our credibility and will allow us to accelerate our commercial programme.”
More and more green entrepreneurs are looking for a financial boost to take their business ideas to the next level, with research conducted by Vivid Economics for Shell Springboard indicating that the low carbon energy market could be worth £2,000 billion by 2030.
Nimai Swaroop, Marketing Manager of Lubricants UK and Nordics, Shell, said: “Over the last five years, Shell Springboard has given £1.3 million to thirty small businesses like Aeristech with innovative ideas for tackling climate change. It’s fantastic to see UK’s entrepreneurs continue to respond to the challenge of climate change, regardless of the economic climate and we wish Bryn Richards and his team every success in moving forwards.”
Aeristech Ltd competed against eight other businesses from across the UK on February 2nd 2010 in Manchester and will now compete to be named as the overall UK winner in London on the 2nd March.
HiMag Solutions from Stroud and Global Energy Systems from Blackpool also received awards of £40,000.