East Devon businesses blaze a green trail for carbon reduction

East Devon District Council's vision for clean growth is successfully taking shape as trail-blazing, local businesses are awarded financial support from the Council's Innovation and Resilience Fund.

The £2.1m Innovation and Resilience Fund consists of £1.1m government COVID-19 recovery funding, match-funded by £1m from the council's business rates retention scheme pilot.

Of the total £2.1m, £1,480,674 in grants has already been approved, with the remainder due to be awarded in April this year.

Together with the council's commitment to achieve net zero carbon by 2040, East Devon District Council is driving clean growth to reduce carbon emissions and provide greener, healthier and more vibrant places to live and work.

Cllr Paul Hayward, East Devon District Council's deputy leader and portfolio holder for the Economy, said:

"The Innovation Resilience Fund panel was delighted to approve grant funding for these innovative and ground-breaking projects which look to deliver remarkable 'green' and 'eco-friendly' solutions to problems that we know are exacerbating climate change and causing concerns across East Devon and the wider UK. "By funding projects which will enable intensive research and development of carbon capture, environmentally positive initiatives and technology will actively reduce CO2 emissions. East Devon District Council is proud to be associated with these projects and we look forward to seeing the results as the different schemes progress. We hope that today's grant-funded concepts will be tomorrow's climate change solutions." Examples of businesses which have benefitted from the financial support include Remit Zero, Blue Marble, Binit and a partnership between Sigma Technical & Two Drifters Distillery.

Sigma Technical & Two Drifters Distillery partnership

Dr Russ Wakeham, founder and CEO of Two Drifters Distillery Ltd, said: "Carbon capture and storage is vital to reverse the damage caused to the climate. "The technology is in its infancy and the planet is running out of time. More research is needed to move the technology forward and I believe I can play my part. I've wanted to build this for a long time. "Working with Mike and using our carbon negative rum distillery as a location to demonstrate it, is very exciting indeed." This exciting collaboration between two diverse organisations, Exeter Science Park's Sigma Technical Ltd and Two Drifters Distillery Ltd will create a carbon capture machine for sale to other businesses to reduce their carbon footprint.   The machine will be installed into a number of suitable 'trial' East Devon businesses (including Two Drifters) for the initial roll out. The selected businesses will be able to benefit directly from reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) as well as being able to feed-back real-world data to the project team and benefit from associated advertising and promotion activities around being part of the scheme. The £150k funding will be used to develop the product which will remove CO2 from the air using a direct air capture machine. The captured CO2 could then be compressed into a cylinder for a variety of uses.

Remit Zero

Remit Zero, established in February 2021, is using the principals of natural science to develop a portfolio of zero emission high performance products. The company's first zero emission product, Cylo®, is a direct replacement for any fossil fuel boiler. Cylo is an entirely new product that harnesses electricity when it is in abundance, either from the grid or renewables and stores this as heat until needed to heat your home or business. A simple, innovative, and affordable zero emission heating solution, which offers the same heating comfort and convenience of any fossil fuel boiler. The £120k funding will be used to design and develop a control system that responds to customer needs and helps with grid balancing services, and increase access to the system by making Cylo® more affordable, which means more homes and businesses will benefit from a new simplified design.

Blue Marble

Henry Waite, founder and MD, said: "We are delighted that with the support of East Devon District Council, we can keep developing our platform to help more businesses and organisations access our Net Zero service. Increasing accessibility to our technical advice and support is a key feature of our longer term plan.† Blue Marble is a carbon accountancy practice offering Net Zero support, Product Life Cycle Assessments and Carbon Footprints for businesses and organisations. The £50k grant will help the business develop the technology behind the platform to help automate the data collection and calculation process. The Blue Marble software platform will also be extended to include the UK's only directory and marketplace for Net Zero committed businesses.

Binit

Philippa Roberts, co-founder and CEO, said: "Binit is really excited to be supported by East Devon in the development of our new hardware and upgrade on the Binit app. "Our app allows our lovely customers to tell us about their bins and book services 24/7, so when it's convenient for them. This grant-funded upgrade means we can add stacks of new features to support our customers on their net zero journeys." Binit provides rubbish and recycling services for businesses. They use an 'uber' model, which means they don't own vehicles, but use hired vehicles to collect Binit bins. The £29k funding will be used to develop a digital solution to capture better waste data. This funding will allow Binit to grow from one lab-based piece of hardware to a fully tested hardware product that they can then rollout to Devon customers as part of an extensive six-month trial. It will allow them to rebuild their software platform and open up opportunities for subscription-based products to customers.