Small Business With Big Idea for Tackling Climate Change Scoops National Award

2009-03-04 11:49:09

Last night (Tuesday 3 March) Shell announced the National Winner of its annual Shell Springboard Awards, which reward the best small business ideas for combating climate change.

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

Ma 2T4 Ltd was set up by father and son duo Dr Tom Ma (67) and Jonathan Ma (28) from Chelmsford, Essex.  The idea came to Dr Ma, a former technical specialist for Ford, in a flash whilst he was driving in heavy traffic.  He is supported in the venture by son, Jonathan, an engineering graduate from Cambridge.  The pair will use the funding from Shell Springboard to develop a simulation of the technology and hope soon to take it to the world’s largest car manufacturers.

Left to Right: Dr Tom Ma, James Smith & Jonathan Ma

Dr Ma said: “We‘re absolutely delighted to have won the Shell Springboard award which has helped us to challenge convention and think big.  Standard car engines have come a long way in becoming more efficient, but there is still real potential to make them greener. We believe that we can be at the forefront of that change with this commercially viable solution to lowering fuel consumption and 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 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 other finalists competing last night were:

• Runner up, Luminanz Ltd, 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.
• 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-saving 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 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.