Covid Safe & Energy Efficient Ventilation

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Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK

£1,294,500

Sept. 30, 2020

June 30, 2021

COVID-19 has put energy efficiency and decarbonisation in ventilation systems on hold, through government guidelines suggesting taking carbon and energy penalties to deliver safe and clean air for occupants. This has caused a significant impact on sustainability and decarbonisation goals. Furthermore, the industry has taken huge financial and operational hits from COVID-19, leading to a pause on upgrade projects, R&D and efficiency measures. This has had a direct effect on our businesses and many others.

Air Handling Units and related Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems constitute the largest single cost energy consumer in the building sector at around 33%. With heat making up approx. 50% of the average commercial building carbon emissions. As heat is one of the 3 key pillars to address in achieving net zero the current COVID-19 ventilation guidance presents a significant major impact on long term net zero by 2050 and climate emergency targets.

Thus, it is critical that solutions are found to address this inefficient ventilation problem. Our **Covid Safe & Energy Efficient Ventilation** Project is designed to address two main drivers resulting from this situation:

1.The need to reopen buildings safely and increasing business productivity; and

2.To reduce energy consumption, therefore reduce service charge, and offer a return on investment through energy saving that will pay for itself and help retain tenants or attract new tenants.

We aim to enable this by combining state-of-the-art, energy efficient, dynamic HVAC control measures (developed previously by this team), with state-of-the-art pathogen inhibiting technologies taken from the healthcare industry. We anticipate this approach will produce a product combination not only capable of exceeding the guideline requirements for pandemic and post-pandemic safety but also reducing HVAC costs.

Research is required to combine these technologies, especially in non-medical buildings. Building users also need confidence via sensing and known strategies in order to enable a safe and efficient return to operation.

We have a location defined for our R&D trials with a partner company, who is keen to be an early adopter. This will allow us to assess the technology combinations and their effectiveness. It will also enable research into sensing and control techniques to optimise pathogen control, recirculation and heating loads.

Our team presents an unprecedented group of companies with both the IP and trademarks to operate with the existing HVAC approach. We also have extensive R&D and commercial implementation experience with a proven track record of bringing new technologies to market across the UK, in both HVAC and broader green energy markets.

The UK AHU market is estimated at £17bn per year and has a huge effect on both carbon emission and cost. This represents a huge opportunity to address the inefficient ventilation problem brought about by COVID-19 and support the UK economy in returning to work safely.

Through our current network of clients and partners, we have identified several clients and groups who are interested in becoming early adopters of this approach. This includes large private companies and council bodies.