TU Delft technostarter company Ephicas won €100,000 in the finals of the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge, a worldwide competition which attracted 313 detailed plans that could reduce CO2 emissions.
The six finalists, including two spin-outs of YES! Delft, the incubator of TU Delft, were competing for the top prize of €500,000 and two prizes of €100,000.
Hjalmar van Raemdonck, one of the founders of Techno Ephicas, developed a side wing that improves the aerodynamics of trucks, reducing fuel consumption. The wings have been tested in the wind tunnel at TU Delft and their performance verified in road tests. During a test of four weeks fuel savings of 9 per cent were achieved.
In December 2008, Ephicas won the Science|Business ACES Academic Enterprise Award in the “Fast Start” category. The award is given to individuals who have created a promising but still unproven spin-out based on ideas developed at universities or public research institutes in Europe.
Another TU Delft spin-out, Simgas, was also one of the six finalists in the Green Challenge. The company aims to introduce an affordable biogas system for developing countries that converts human and kitchen waste to biogas for fuelling stoves and lamps.
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