An Exeter start-up company is working with regional and national experts on a project aiming to help cut CO2 emissions in cities across the world.
Emtec has developed technology that is being used in a London-based pilot project with a fleet of 250 vehicles, measuring carbon dioxide emissions in order to help manage and ultimately reduce them.
Now Emtec has teamed up with The Environmental Futures & Big Data Impact Lab (Impact Lab) in Exeter to gather more data and scale up the project to a global level.
Working with the Impact Lab’s technical specialists, Emtec aims to measure transport emissions more effectively, and produce valid economic rationale to support the next steps.
John White, Co-Founder of Emtec, explained: “Emtec combines cloud computing, connected car technologies and artificial intelligence to simplify all aspects of fleet operation and vehicle renewal planning.
“Initiatives across the world are aiming to reduce carbon emissions, which are a cause of climate change. Our technology accurately measures emissions so we can then assess how effective these initiatives are.
“As we look to develop our technology further by monitoring more data sources, we needed access to additional data and data analysts to grow our products and services sustainably and accurately.
“The Impact Lab’s project management and technical experts are the perfect partners to facilitate this and we’re excited about where this collaboration will take the company.”
Emtec’s short-term ambition is to work directly with the Exeter City Futures Partner Network to explore how they can help local organisations and their fleet management to cut their emissions. Looking further ahead, there are 7,000 cities globally which have signed up to clean air projects, and Emtec would like to roll out their technology worldwide.
Following the work with the Impact Lab, the next phase for Emtec will be to present the research to the National Physical Laboratory in London, to progress a contract with them.
Kathryn White, Innovation Manager at the Impact Lab, said: “Emtec approached our team to develop the CO2 emissions algorithm and this work will be externally supported and validated by the National Physical Laboratory to comply with scientifically calculated reporting requirements.
“We have introduced John and his team to academics at University of Exeter and University of Plymouth who have the best knowledge and skill set to support the project. At the heart of what the Impact Lab offers is resource for collaborative projects to help businesses solve a key technical challenge in the development of a new product, service or process.”
The Environmental Futures & Big Data Impact Lab is a three-year, £6.4m project, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). It is a partnership of seven organisations: University of Exeter, Exeter City Futures, Met Office, University of Plymouth, Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, and Rothamsted Research.
John added: “Working with the Impact Lab has opened a number of doors that ordinarily wouldn’t have been accessible to us. They have provided extraordinary support, listened well and introduced us to the right people to accelerate our impact.”
Along with wide-ranging driver performance and vehicle usage data, Emtec’s hardware and software technology includes each vehicle’s CO2 and nitrous oxide emission levels, and exact geolocation trip usage, simplifying all aspects of fleet operation and renewal planning, including positioning of electricity charge points and selection of energy providers.
John was introduced to Impact Lab’s team after he took up a hot-desking space at Exeter Science Park.
For more information about the Impact Lab, visit impactlab.org.uk or contact the team on 07867 341750. Follow the team on Twitter @efbd_impactlab or LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/efbd-impactlab..
Picture show: John White, Director of Emtec (2nd from left) is welcomed by Kathryn White and her colleagues from sthe Impact Lab L-R Dr Dmitry Kangin & Prof Richard Everson.
Picture credit: Guy Newman, KOR Communications.
Submitted on 28/10/2018
