Cambridge spin-out scoops energy award

E-Stack, a spin-out from from the BP Institute at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, has won the Euromoney and Ernst & Young Global Renewable Energy Awards 2008 “Most Enterprising New Market Entrant of the Year”.

The awards,nicknamed the ‘Green Oscars’, were established to recognise the projects, companies and individuals who have made a significant contribution to the global renewable energy sector. Past winners of the “Most Enterprising New Market Entrant of the Year” include BP Alternative Energy and Dongyang & SunTechnics.

The proprietary e-stack ventilation system provides low energy ventilation in winter, while preventing the formation of cold draughts in the interior space. This enables interior spaces to remain thermally comfortable but also replenished with fresh air to keep CO2 levels low. The system has already been applied in numerous new schools and is now being applied in different building types such as offices, theatres and retail units. E-Stack emerged from a project established by the Cambridge–MIT Institute and backed by a development grant from BP in 2001.

Cambridge Enterprise Limited, University of Cambridge, helped to establish E-Stack, and facilitated and negotiated the licence on behalf of the Cambridge–MIT Institute.

Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, E-Stack’s Managing Director said: “This award is given to the new market entrant who has had the biggest impact on the renewable energy market. Our technology has the ability to reduce energy consumption in buildings by a factor of two, and given that 40% of all energy in the developed world is used by buildings, the potential impact of the e-stack system on the energy market is enormous.  Awards such as this help raise awareness of the e-stack technology, which in turn will help increase the uptake of our systems and enable people to reduce their energy usage and bills.”

Justin Adams, Head of BP’s Alternative Energy Venturing business said: “We are delighted that E-Stack’s technology continues to attract plaudits from across the industry.   The emergence of new technologies into real business ventures lies at the heart of our investment and innovation approach at BP Alternative Energy and we are delighted to have helped set up the company and support its growth.  We look forward to remaining a key shareholder in the company going forward”.

This is E-Stack’s 3rd award this year.  The previous two awards were the East of England Energy Group Energy Innovation Award and the new Low Carbon Trophy.