UK start-up Breathing Buildings rethinks natural ventilation
Buildings are big guzzlers of energy. So making buildings energy efficient is a key challenge in the race to tackle climate change.
“The way in which we use energy needs to change and adapt as much as the way we produce it,” says Shaun Fitzgerald co-founder and managing director at Breathing Buildings, a spin-out from the University of Cambridge that has developed a low-energy ventilation system.
Founded in 2006, Breathing Buildings is bringing to market technology developed during a five-year research programme at Cambridge University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The company’s patented e-stack natural ventilation system creates a minimum rate of air change between a building and the exterior in winter while minimizing energy use and heat. The system mixes incoming cold fresh air in winter with hot interior air prior to being circulated, keeping air quality high but avoiding cold draughts.
With the world’s growing population and industrial development emission levels continuing to rise, the opportunity for energy reduction and efficiency through intelligent building design is huge. Roughly 50 per cent of the developed world’s energy use is tied to electrical, heating and cooling systems used in buildings. “The building environment will be a very different world in 20 years,” says Fitzgerald who hopes to harness innovation in energy usage to drive growth.
Breathing Buildings now employs 18 at its Cambridge headquarters and its clients include the international retailer Asda, Wal-Mart, and property developer Hammerson, as well as a number of public sector bodies.
Five years of research
After filing an initial patent in 2005 and founding the company in 2006, Fitzgerald and co-founder Andy Woods needed investment capital. The company discussed the findings of its research with BP and were advised not to “let that patent sit on a library shelf gathering dust” said Fitzgerald.
BP provided several hundred thousand pounds of seed funding for the company during 2006 and 2007, to conduct market research and to continue developing the product. Meanwhile the company started providing consulting services and has also received a £75,000 grant from the Carbon Trust in the UK.
“BP has been a partner from day one,” said Fitzgerald. “They’ve taught us how to take academic research and develop it into commercial success.” In early 2008 BP provided support to come up with a second business plan and start raising venture capital. Despite the economic crisis, the company received early-stage funding from MMC Ventures.
For BP, the relationships with start-ups such as Breathing Buildings offer new perspectives. “Working with companies like Breathing Buildings gives us insight and food for thought that influences our business strategy. It allows us to see the way the world is moving and trends in terms of energy usage,” says Robert Sorrell, vice president of public partnerships at BP.
Need to inspire a new generation
Breathing Buildings’ founders and BP executives share a common objective on science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) students entering the world of energy. Both companies want to inspire students and graduates to consider a career in energy.
“If we can excite one bright STEM student to consider a career in energy, regardless of which company they go and work for, I consider that a success,” said Fitzgerald. “We need to get more graduates engaged in the energy sector and the wider debate.”
This year two students from Cambridge University joined the team at Breathing Buildings. Yiteng Hu spent the summer working closely with the engineering team at Asda Wal-Mart, to study the performance of air source heat pumps and combined heat and power units in a supermarket setting. Separately, Nick Wise reviewed the internal conditions at a supermarket and has been working on controlling the ventilation system to achieve energy savings from refrigeration equipment. The project will continue for another year.
Breathing Buildings’ revenues more than tripled between 2009 and 2012 and the company now has more than five per cent of the £1 billion UK ventilation market. It’s also won several awards, including the BRE Healthcare and Education Buildings of the year in 2012. Fitzgerald’s goal is to continue growing revenues at the same pace. “We are looking at increasing sales, new products, looking at the US market and continuing to seek out opportunities that offer mutual benefit for us and the environment” says Fitzgerald.
As governments around the world increasingly embrace the goal of green structures, Breathing Buildings is helping accelerate the trend.
“The way in which we use energy needs to change and adapt as much as the way we produce it,” says Shaun Fitzgerald co-founder and managing director at Breathing Buildings, a spin-out from the University of Cambridge that has developed a low-energy ventilation system.
Founded in 2006, Breathing Buildings is bringing to market technology developed during a five-year research programme at Cambridge University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The company’s patented e-stack natural ventilation system creates a minimum rate of air change between a building and the exterior in winter while minimizing energy use and heat. The system mixes incoming cold fresh air in winter with hot interior air prior to being circulated, keeping air quality high but avoiding cold draughts.
With the world’s growing population and industrial development emission levels continuing to rise, the opportunity for energy reduction and efficiency through intelligent building design is huge. Roughly 50 per cent of the developed world’s energy use is tied to electrical, heating and cooling systems used in buildings. “The building environment will be a very different world in 20 years,” says Fitzgerald who hopes to harness innovation in energy usage to drive growth.
Breathing Buildings now employs 18 at its Cambridge headquarters and its clients include the international retailer Asda, Wal-Mart, and property developer Hammerson, as well as a number of public sector bodies.
Five years of research
The research behind the technology of Breathing Buildings was conducted at Cambridge University in the course of a five-year research program that ran through 2005. BP, the international energy company, pledged £2.5 million in research funding through the Cambridge Massachusetts Institute (CMI), a joint venture between Cambridge University and MIT, to explore how academics, industrialists and educators might work together to stimulate competitiveness, productivity and entrepreneurship.
The BP investment triggered a £10 million investment in the CMI by the UK government, which was running a programme that matched £1 pound of private sector investments in joint ventures with £4 of government funding.
Launching the companyAfter filing an initial patent in 2005 and founding the company in 2006, Fitzgerald and co-founder Andy Woods needed investment capital. The company discussed the findings of its research with BP and were advised not to “let that patent sit on a library shelf gathering dust” said Fitzgerald.
BP provided several hundred thousand pounds of seed funding for the company during 2006 and 2007, to conduct market research and to continue developing the product. Meanwhile the company started providing consulting services and has also received a £75,000 grant from the Carbon Trust in the UK.
“BP has been a partner from day one,” said Fitzgerald. “They’ve taught us how to take academic research and develop it into commercial success.” In early 2008 BP provided support to come up with a second business plan and start raising venture capital. Despite the economic crisis, the company received early-stage funding from MMC Ventures.
For BP, the relationships with start-ups such as Breathing Buildings offer new perspectives. “Working with companies like Breathing Buildings gives us insight and food for thought that influences our business strategy. It allows us to see the way the world is moving and trends in terms of energy usage,” says Robert Sorrell, vice president of public partnerships at BP.
Need to inspire a new generation
Breathing Buildings’ founders and BP executives share a common objective on science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) students entering the world of energy. Both companies want to inspire students and graduates to consider a career in energy.
“If we can excite one bright STEM student to consider a career in energy, regardless of which company they go and work for, I consider that a success,” said Fitzgerald. “We need to get more graduates engaged in the energy sector and the wider debate.”
This year two students from Cambridge University joined the team at Breathing Buildings. Yiteng Hu spent the summer working closely with the engineering team at Asda Wal-Mart, to study the performance of air source heat pumps and combined heat and power units in a supermarket setting. Separately, Nick Wise reviewed the internal conditions at a supermarket and has been working on controlling the ventilation system to achieve energy savings from refrigeration equipment. The project will continue for another year.
Breathing Buildings’ revenues more than tripled between 2009 and 2012 and the company now has more than five per cent of the £1 billion UK ventilation market. It’s also won several awards, including the BRE Healthcare and Education Buildings of the year in 2012. Fitzgerald’s goal is to continue growing revenues at the same pace. “We are looking at increasing sales, new products, looking at the US market and continuing to seek out opportunities that offer mutual benefit for us and the environment” says Fitzgerald.
As governments around the world increasingly embrace the goal of green structures, Breathing Buildings is helping accelerate the trend.
Receive the Funding Newswire [full access requires a subscription] each Tuesday, our Policy Bulletin each Thursday, and news about bridging Europe’s east-west innovation gap twice a month in The Widening. 
A unique international forum for public research organisations and companies to connect their external engagement with strategic interests around their R&D system.
