Bolton Climate Change Entrepreneurs Achieve National Acclaim

2009-03-04 10:39:37

Last night (Tuesday 3 March), a small business from Bolton was named runner up in the national final of the Shell Springboard Awards, which reward the best small business ideas for combating climate change.

Luminanz Ltd received the runner up award for its low carbon, energy efficient lighting called TorusLite, which uses the latest high brightness white light emitting diode (LED) technology to cut household electricity bills by up to seventy per cent.

Unlike traditional energy saving light bulbs, TorusLites can last without maintenance for over 50,000 hours, are four times more efficient than standard incandescent bulbs, and two times more efficient than a halogen bulb. They are also mercury free and cost nothing to dispose of.

Left to Right: Morton Graham, Dr Neil Haigh  & James Smith

Luminanz Ltd was set up three years ago by Morton Graham, the pioneer behind the wave guide technological approach that is central to Luminanz Ltd’s award winning LED technology. Together with his technical director, Dr Neil Haigh, the Bolton based business has been developing a revolutionary, patented way to light homes and buildings that has already attracted interest from investors around the globe.

Morton Graham, the founder and Director of Luminanz Ltd, said: “Being recognised by Shell Springboard at a national level confirms that we are leading the way in the LED lighting industry. The funding from Shell Springboard has been set to good use already to produce our TorusLites on a large scale, but the real boost for us comes from the stamp of approval that a Shell Springboard award brings to our business. We hope businesses and consumers will now feel confident about swapping their ordinary lightbulbs for TorusLites, which will have a significant impact on domestic carbon emissions.”

In its fourth year, Shell Springboard has given a financial boost of up to £40,000 to nine innovative, commercially viable business ideas that tackle climate change, taking the total investment in ‘eco-preneurs’ since the programme began to over £1.3 million.  It is hoped this will be instrumental in enabling small businesses to take their ideas to the next level. 

According to Shell Springboard’s The Race to Capture 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.

James Smith, Chairman of Shell UK, said: "Low carbon innovation creates real opportunities for British industry.  The UK has huge talent and creativity in this area.  Shell Springboard rewards ideas that are innovative and commercially viable.  It's great to see the finalists have proved there are great innovators out there.”

Over 160 small businesses from across the UK entered the Shell Springboard Awards this year. The five finalists competing last night included:

• Winners Ma (Innovation) 2T4 Ltd for its mechanism that makes green, hybrid cars with smaller engines even more fuel efficient and powerful.
• Scottish Bioenergy Cooperative Ventures for its system of capturing CO₂ emissions from a whisky distillery's boiler exhaust to grow algae which in turn are used to produce biodiesel.
• Connaught Engineering Ltd for developing Hybrid Plus, a versatile energy-bolt-on device which can be fitted to car engines and improves fuel consumption by up to twenty five per cent, whilst also significantly reducing CO₂.
• Juice Technology Ltd 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.
• Alertme.com Ltd 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.

Ma (Innovation) 2T4 Ltd and Luminanz Ltd will both receive consultancy to help develop their business further.

Previous winners

2008 winners Carbon8 Ltd have gone from strength to strength since being named overall UK winners of the Shell Springboard awards last year. The £40,000 prize fund has allowed Carbon8 Ltd to develop their system of making building materials out of recycled rubbish, and gain the attention of high profile investors.

2008 Shell Springboard regional finalists Leaf Log grabbed the attention of a number of major retailers after winning the Shell Springboard award which subsequently led to their first retail partnership with B&Q. Leaf Log is an innovative system that turns dead leaves into fuel for heating stoves, acting as an environmentally friendly and cost-effective alternative to coal. The company has gone on to enjoy significant success and is now at the stage of seeking second round financing to move from a manual to an automated system, which will enable them to meet the demands of the many retailers who knocking on their door.