Government backs EERA’s £25 million housing renewal and regeneration programme

The East of England Regional Assembly’s Housing and Sustainable Communities Panel put forward sixteen local-authority led projects to the Government.

This includes over £6.6 million for domestic carbon reduction and refurbishment schemes in Essex and Hertfordshire; over £5.3 million for refurbishing properties and restoring long-term empty properties in Great Yarmouth; over £2.2 million towards energy efficiency measures and refurbishment work in Cambridgeshire homes; £1 million to produce a reduction in fuel poverty areas around Luton and Bedford; and £0.5 million to restoring properties in rural Suffolk.

The recommended projects were accepted in full by Housing Minister, Margaret Beckett, in an announcement to EERA last week.

“These improvements will not only benefit individual households, but the region as a whole” said Cllr Susan Barker, Chairman of EERA’s Housing and Sustainable Communities Panel. “Making houses warmer and cheaper to heat will help reduce fuel bills and contribute to improved health and wellbeing. Also, more energy efficient homes mean fewer damaging carbon emissions, which is good for the environment.”

“Reducing the amount of homes that are in disrepair will lead to communities where people are proud to live, making them more likely to there and contribute to the local economy. EERA will monitor the success of these projects, including their outputs and outcomes.”

Juice Technology Ltd, Hertfordshire Business Wins £40,000 Climate Change Innovation Prize

A Hoddesdon based business with a big idea for tackling climate change has won a Shell Springboard award of £40,000 giving the business a valuable boost in a programme designed to promote the growth of the low carbon economy in the UK.
Juice Technology Ltd received the award for its range of ultra efficient LED lights that promise to reduce energy consumption by up to 90 per cent compared to current incandescent light bulbs, and are a third more efficient than compact fluorescent lamps.

In contrast to many LED light systems, this lighting is flexible, practical, affordable and useable for a wide variety of purposes and places. It can be used in shop displays, offices, kitchens and the living room, and even includes a unique dimming feature currently not available with any similar products. It also has a long life and minimal electrical waste, unlike compact fluorescent lamps which contain mercury.

Shell Springboard gives a financial boost to innovative, commercially viable business ideas that tackle climate change. The programme encourages a positive business response to the challenge of climate change by providing a no-strings financial boost to small ideas with innovative products and services that could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and really make a difference.

Ian Turner, Director of Juice Technology Ltd, said: “We’re absolutely delighted that an independent group of judges has recognised the value of our ambition to deliver significant energy savings through world leading lighting goods. The award will allow us to develop our cutting edge product for EU markets and give it the marketing support it needs to raise consumer awareness.”Duncan Macleod, VP Hydrogen & GTL, Shell International Ltd said: “Congratulations to Ian Turner and Juice Technology Ltd. Their LED light systems, which have genuine commercial potential, could have a significant impact on the UK’s carbon emissions. It’s this kind of cutting-edge innovation that has made the UK a world leader in low carbon technology investment. In a difficult economic climate, it has become more important than ever that we continue to foster such independent entrepreneurialism which is so crucial to the UK economy in the long term.”

According to Shell Springboard’s Race Against the Carbon Pound report the UK’s ‘green’ companies attracted over £1billion of venture capital and private equity investment in 2007: 41% of the EU total. This makes the UK the European leader when it comes to attracting venture capital and private equity investment in low carbon technologies, second only to the United States worldwide.

Juice Technology Ltd competed against eight businesses from across the region on 24th February 2009 in London and will now compete to be named as the overall UK winner in London on the 3rd of March.

Ma (Innovation) 2T4 Ltd, based in Essex, and Alertme.com Ltd from Cambridge also received awards of £40,000, and will go forward with Juice Technology Ltd to the UK final on the 3rd of March.

Source: Shell Springboard

Ma (Innovation) 2T4 Ltd, an Essex Business Wins £40,000 Climate Change Innovation Prize

A Chelmsford based business with a big idea for tackling climate change has won a Shell Springboard award of £40,000 giving their business a valuable boost in a programme designed to promote the growth of the low carbon economy in the UK.

Ma (Innovation) 2T4 Ltd received the award for its mechanism that makes green, hybrid cars with smaller engines even more fuel efficient and powerful. The Supercharger Air Hybrid uses the energy created from braking the car to power the downsized engine, which means a more powerful drive for less carbon emissions. Fitting one of these devices to your hybrid car could produce a substantial fuel efficiency improvement, with up to a 40 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions compared with a standard car.

Shell Springboard gives a financial boost to innovative, commercially viable business ideas that tackle climate change. The programme encourages a positive business response to the challenge of climate change by providing a no-strings financial boost to small ideas with innovative products and services that could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and really make a difference.Jonathan Ma, Business Development Director of Ma (Innovation) 2T4 Ltd said: “We’re very grateful to Shell and the judging panel for the work they’ve put into the Springboard programme and are ecstatic to have won the award. The funding will be transformational for our business and we hope to be able to report back soon on our success in the global market and the CO2 savings we have generated.”

Duncan Macleod, VP Hydrogen & GTL, Shell International Ltd said: “Congratulations to Jonathan Ma and Ma (Innovation) 2T4 Ltd. The Supercharger Air Hybrid not only has genuine commercial potential but could also have a significant impact on the UK’s carbon emissions. It’s this kind of cutting-edge innovation that has made the UK a world leader in low carbon technology investment. In a difficult economic climate, it has become more important than ever that we continue to foster such independent entrepreneurialism which is so crucial to the UK economy in the long term.”According to Shell Springboard’s Race Against the Carbon Pound report the UK’s ‘green’ companies attracted over £1billion of venture capital and private equity investment in 2007: 41% of the EU total. This makes the UK the European leader when it comes to attracting venture capital and private equity investment in low carbon technologies, second only to the United States worldwide.

Ma (Innovation) 2T4 Ltd competed against eight businesses from across the region on 24th February 2009 in London and will now compete to be named as the overall UK winner in London on the 3rd of March.

Juice Technology Ltd, based in Hertfordshire, and Alertme.com Ltd in Cambridge also received awards of £40,000, and will go forward with Ma (Innovation) 2T4 Ltd to the UK final on the 3rd of March.

Source: Shell Springboard

Alertme.com Ltd, a Cambridge business wins climate change innovation prize

A Cambridge-based business with a big idea for tackling climate change has won a Shell Springboard award of £40,000, giving the business a valuable boost in a programme designed to promote the growth of the low carbon economy in the UK. Alertme.com Ltd received the award for its energy management system, which allows home owners to monitor how much energy they are consuming and automatically turn off devices that are not in use through their mobile phones and the web.

The AlertMe Energy system uses “smart plugs” that allow home owners to control and monitor how much power their home appliances are using. Working wirelessly with other smart devices that monitor energy use across the whole home, this information tells you how much you are spending on powering your house, and where. Using manual and automatic controls, AlertMe Energy could save the average home £30 a month on heating and electricity bills, and cut domestic energy wastage and associated carbon emissions by a quarter.

Shell Springboard gives a financial boost to innovative, commercially viable business ideas that tackle climate change. The programme encourages a positive business response to the challenge of climate change by providing a no-strings financial boost to small ideas with innovative products and services that could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and really make a difference.

Duncan Macleod, VP Hydrogen & GTL, Shell International Ltd says: ‘Congratulations to Pilgrim Beart and Alertme.com Ltd. The AlertMe Energy system not only has genuine commercial potential but could also have a significant impact on the UK’s carbon emissions. It’s this kind of cutting-edge innovation that has made the UK a world leader in low carbon technology investment. In a difficult economic climate, it has become more important than ever that we continue to foster such independent entrepreneurialism which is so crucial to the UK economy in the long term.’

According to Shell Springboard’s Race Against the Carbon Pound report the UK’s “green” companies attracted over £1bn of venture capital and private equity investment in 2007: 41% of the EU total. This makes the UK the European leader when it comes to attracting venture capital and private equity investment in low carbon technologies, second only to the United States worldwide.

Juice Technology Ltd, based in Hertfordshire, and Ma (Innovation) 2T4 Ltd in Essex also received awards of £40,000, and will go forward with Alertme.com Ltd to the UK final.

Source: Shell Springboard

Environmental Population Networking Event

February 17, 2009
4:00 pm	to	6:00 pm

Business and Technology Centre, Bessemer Drive, Stevenage, SG1 2DX

Learn how to become greener and make new business contacts!

o   Are you struggling to understand the issues associated with going green?

o   Would you like to learn a little more?

… then come along to our environmental networking event and meet other like minded business professionals

Green Business Networking Event

Tuesday 17th February 2009 4pm-6pm

Business and Technology Centre, Bessemer Drive, Stevenage,

Hertfordshire, SG1 2DX

Come and listen to two fabulous speakers and meet other business professionals at one of our highly successful networking events:

• o Susie Bewell of Raymond James Investment Services will discuss “Investing in a Volatile World”.

• o Grahame Smith of Mystery Events will be presenting “Eco Warriors - Death or Quest?”

There will be plenty of time to network with other businesses so don’t forget your business cards.

Only £5 for members of Environmental Population, £10 for non-members.

For further information on this event, or to find out about becoming a member of Environmental Population, please telephone 01438 317722 or e-mail admin@environmental-population.com.

Fuel for the future gets EEDA backing

Woodlands in the East of England are set to provide fuel for the future after a new project received one of the largest funding awards of its kind in England.

The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) has awarded £4.3 million to increase the use of wood-based energy production.

The £10.7 million Woodfuel East project will help cut carbon emissions by providing locally produced and sustainably sourced fuel. It will also help create jobs and businesses in the rural economy and improve biodiversity.

The award has come from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), which is a combination of European funding and money from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, delivered regionally by EEDA.

Woodfuel East initiative is a partnership governed by representatives of 25 organisations from across the region, co-ordinated by the Forestry Commission.

Landowners will be encouraged to manage neglected woodlands, which has the added benefit of creating new habitats for wildlife.  There are about 140,000 hectares of woodland in the East of England, around seven per cent of the total land area, but 50,000 ha are undermanaged or not managed at all.

Felled trees and cut branches, which might otherwise go to waste, can be chipped for use in specialised boilers. These can provide heat and hot water for medium-sized buildings such as schools, village halls and offices, particularly in rural areas with no gas supply.

David Sillett, EEDA Rural development manager said:

“Woodfuel East, which covers Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, will encourage a co-ordinated supply chain, from land owners through to the marketplace for wood chips.

“With new markets, come new opportunities which will be of particular benefit to the rural economy.”

Mr Sillett added:

“By 2013, we could be saving at least 75,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year and supplying the equivalent of 12,500 homes with energy.”

Edwin Van Ek, of WoodFuel East, said:

“This is a real kick-start to the wood fuel industry in the East of England. Woodfuel East can provide advice and investment support to the supply chain.

“It is also good news for biodiversity, as woodland management such as coppicing, where trees are cut back and allowed to regrow, creates new and varied wildlife habitats.”

“Land owners can also benefit by installing modern, efficient wood fuel boilers to produce heat and hot water for their buildings, using wood produced from their own woodlands,” he said.

“The latest wood fuel boilers are easy to operate and very efficient, producing very small amounts of smoke and little ash. With recent increases in fuel prices, switching to wood fuel also makes financial sense.”

UK based Sci-Tech Systems (Essex) has won the 2008 European Satellite Navigation Competition (formerly the Galileo Masters Competition). Sci-Tech beat nearly 300 other submissions from across Europe to win the title of “Galileo Master”.

The winners Peter Hall, Christine Edwards, David Lewin and Roger Noble, a team of experienced sailing and business enthusiasts from a major sailing centre in East Anglia, received their award from Ann Sta Head of the Galileo Programme Division in the UK’s Department for Transport and one of the UK’s expert panel of Judges, at a prestigious ceremony at the Residenz Munchen in Munich, attended by more than 400 international guests last night.

Sci-Tech’s Peter Hall, a keen yachtsman himself said: “I am enormously proud to have won the coveted award of Galileo Master.  It’s not only a great morale booster, but will help us transform the concept into a business reality.  HBIC has given me tremendous support in defining our business model and in securing intellectual property rights.  HBIC’s promotion of the Galileo Masters Competition in the UK has encouraged people like me to come up with many new ideas and potential business opportunities.”

Sci-Tech Systems’ winning idea is to use the Galileo satellite systems to help save lives through a quicker and a more effective method of locating people who have fallen over board ships.  It provides real time monitoring of the casualty’s positions, thus enabling an immediate and more efficient local rescue. It is compatible with existing maritime navigational systems in both private and commercial situations.

In addition to the European Satellite Navigation prize of Galileo Master, Sci-Tech Systems was also the winners of the GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA) Special Interest Prize and the UK SatNav Challenge.

The UK SatNav Challenge, part of the overall European Satellite Navigation Competition is managed by Hertfordshire Business Incubation Centre (HBIC).  HBIC was the first Enterprise Hub to be established for the East of England and ESA’s UK Space Incubator.  The UK SatNav Challenge was sponsored and supported by Aston Science Park, HBIC’s collaborative partner, as well as the East of England Development Agency, South East England Development Agency, Astrium Ltd, Thales, British National Space Centre, the Department for Transport, Location & Timing KTN, the University of Nottingham and Scott & York Intellectual Property.

Philip Lines, Chief Executive of HBIC, and Director of Finance at Aston Science Park, added: “I would like to congratulate Peter and his team on being the first triple winners in the competition.  I am sure this will provide Sci-Tech with a springboard for future business success and we look forward to helping them achieve this.  I am delighted by the interest we have seen in this year’s competition and the new, exciting and innovative ideas coming forward.  The positive feedback we have received from our key industry sponsors and the companies entering the competition highlights the importance of technology and innovation for UK business which proves that the UK SatNav Challenge has been a huge success.”

Bill Collins, Business Development Manager at HBIC, who manages the UK SatNav Challenge said: “This is a regional project that has been acknowledged by many EU members and countries as far afield as, Taiwan and Australia to be a potential life saver on a global scale.  We, together with our collaborative partners, will be working closely with Sci-Tech and other entrants over the coming months to help develop their business ideas, as well as looking forward to launching and managing next year’s competition.  This will be the fifth year HBIC has managed the UK Challenge and in 2009 it means the International Evaluation will be hosted by HBIC. We would like to encourage all of our leading industries to come forward to support and sponsor this significant UK Challenge and demonstrate once more the UK’s ability to manage such a prestigious event and maximise the potential to the benefit of all.”

Henk Koopmans from The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) said: “EEDA is pleased to have supported the Galileo Masters UK Challenge for the fourth year running. This European contest provides a fantastic showcase for the most creative satellite navigation technologies to come out of the UK. It also complements EEDA and SEEDA’s regional programmes of driving forward innovation in science, technology and research across the East of England and the Greater South East Region”.

Fly-tipper gets record jail time

A Hertfordshire man who illegally dumped 85 tonnes of waste was given a record-breaking sentence for fly tipping.

Harvey Gibson received a 32-month jail term for "illegally depositing and disposing of controlled waste in contravention of a Waste Management Licence" and of managing a company while he was disqualified.

The Environment Agency (EA) brought the case against the "professional polluter" who dumped the waste in a field west of Reading.

He was also ordered to pay £20,000 in costs at Reading Crown Court.

Between 2004 and 2006 Mr Gibson dumped waste in Buckinghamshire and Berkshire, the court heard.

He buried or burned waste including batteries, solvents and plastic in a pit used to supply a public water supply and was caught after an undercover EA investigation.

According to Get Reading Jenny Thomas, an EA technical specialist, said: "Once a contaminant has entered the groundwater, the consequences for the communities’ water supplies and local river flora and fauna can be extremely serious."

The EA also said that prior to the sentencing on Friday, the longest jail term handed down for a similar offence was 22 months in prison.

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