CompAir has developed a solution which involves installing air quality sensors into people’s homes. The data gathered by the low-cost sensors is provides a cost-saving triage service so that housing providers can identify issues before they become dangerous. The intention is that this will enable remedial action to be taken sooner, minimising the health risks to tenants.

The sensors themselves were developed in collaboration with UCL and use precision laser-optical technology to examine the air. The device detects key airborne pollutants including particulate matter (PM1, PM2.5 and PM10) which is emitted from engines, factories and other sources of combustion, CO2 and harmful Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) as well as measuring temperature and humidity (or damp). This information is sent via 3G/4G to CompAir’s cloud storage for analysis and reporting and can be made accessible to different stakeholders – including the landlord and tenant, encouraging action.

It is also possible to install the sensors externally to build a complete picture of an area and highlight problematic locations as well as to monitor air quality in warehousing, storage facilities and places of work in order to protect employees and merchandise from damage from air pollution, damp and mould.

The cost of the loss of warehouse stock or of treating the damage to a building caused by damp in a property can be punishingly high; but the cost to human beings is immeasurable. Recently, mould and damp caused the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak in Rochdale and, previously, toxic air from a busy road killed Ella Kissi-Debrah in London.

Graphenstone Ambient Pro+ changes the nature of paints, from synthetic oil-based toxic off-grassing coatings to active air-purifying, natural mineral based products. It is a high-tech, modern paint made from traditional materials, with no performance compromise yet offering actual health benefits along with an unsurpassed sustainable and ecological profile. The paint has a mineral matt finish significantly enhancing the overall design of all interior spaces.

This lime-based coating actively cleans the air, every day, using light energy from sun or ambient. It removes air-borne toxins such as NOx, SOx, as well as removing CO2, the majority in the first 30 days after application.

It also offers an extremely low carbon footprint (certified by Solingesa), relative to other synthetic brands, whilst absorbing CO2 in volume, during the curing phase, in the first 30 days after application (circa 5kg per 15 litre pot). This is a natural process and part of the scientifically recognised ‘lime cycle’.

The embedded carbon footprint of Ambient Pro+ is also one of the lowest in the industry, a fraction of the levels of other mainstream synthetic plastic-based paints brands.

Furthermore, this mineral paint contains no plastics, micro-beads or man-made chemicals. It’s natural mineral base has been strengthened with Carbon Graphene, the strongest material on earth and a Nobel prize winning 21st Century discovery. This also ensures Class 1 washability for this ultra-clean paint.

Ambient Pro+ is certified Gold by Cradle to Cradle Institute, Global Green Tag, and Eurofins Indoor Air Comfort Gold.

Graphenstone Ambient Pro+ is a comparable price to other ecological paints on the market, and when its superior coverage is taken into account it works out towards the cheaper end of the market.

The Aguardio Sensor can identify leaks down to 4 litres per hour, it has a 10+ year battery and costs just over a 1p /day.

The Aguardio Leak Sensor is also capable of counting toilet flushes. This can be used to gain insights into individual toilet usage which could be used to assist with cleaning routines and preventative maintenance. The sensor is very simple to install by connecting the unit to the toilet in the water inlet pipe with a plastic tie. The sensor is fitted with temperature sensors, one measures the pipe temperature and the other the ambient temperature. The sensor takes a reading every 3^rd second so if there is a water leak cooler water will be drawn into the pipework and the sensor will pick it up. The connected version can detect flushes as the temperature change will be more significant. When a leaking toilet is detected, the sensors trigger an alarm that alerts residents to address the issue promptly by calling the service staff. The technology has been tested by Teknologisk Institut, the leading independent test institute in Denmark.

The solutions also has some health benefits. For example care homes could also monitor occupant’s toilet usage which could be an indication of their health status. In hospitals it can be used to monitor toilet usage and hand washes routines to ensure people are actually washing their hands in proportion to toilet usage. With suitable nudges, Aguardio has seen improvements of hygiene routines.

Cost of the product depends on quantities and whether it is used as a standalone item or connected to the Aguardio Hub, but they typically cost approximately £30-£50 per item. Since a slight toilet leak can result in an additional usage of 100m3 of water per year this could cost in the region of £250 per year. There is no maintenance, and the battery will last in excess of 10 years.

Encore Cistern enables condensate from air conditioning units to be stored and recycled as flushing water for toilets. The cistern works exactly like a traditional cistern with the exception that it has an extra filling connection to allow a separate water source to be introduced (from the air conditioning unit). The Encore can hold 18 litres of water; three times more than traditional cisterns. Despite this the Cistern has no additional spatial requirements, it is designed to fit in standard service voids. The Encore has a dual-chamber design. When the air conditioning system is in use, both chambers are filled with condensate, and when the toilet is flushed, the lower chamber is replenished by the upper chamber, to ensure a quick refill. If there are multiple flushes in a short period of time, the Encore cistern is filled the conventional way.  

The Encore cistern can be used in all concealed toilet installations, both new and existing, and is the first and only cistern to give BREEAM credits and LEED points. In addition the materials in the cistern are fully recyclable.  

ReLearn wants to revolutionise the waste sorting system. ReLearn’s smart sensor, NANDO, is the solution to constantly monitor waste production with professional reporting while spreading sustainable practices to the community in an engaging way.

ReLearn installs the small IoT sensor on a customer’s existing bins and then uses artificial intelligence to collect data on the amount and type of waste produced on a daily basis.

NANDO reports the quantity and quality of waste through precise data on a dashboard creating a professional report according to the GRI 306 standard. Customers are also able to monitor their live recycling rate, recycling trends and projected recycling patterns.

NANDO spreads sustainable practices to achieve the best recycling rate in an office space. To increase community involvement and effectively transfer corporate values, internal challenges can be developed between different floors or different locations through the platform. ReLearn also uses the data to identify the most common mistakes in waste differentiation and then educate users on how to correct them.

NANDO increases the availability of waste information for sustainability reporting avoiding fines. It also increases ESG score by monitoring and improving waste performance and improves LEED score with waste monitoring. NANDO is a partner of Arc Skoru and the US Green Building Council.

ReLearn’s business model is based on an activation fee per installer sensor and an annual subscription fee per sensor.

The HTS Stockmatcher is a python-based selection tool built to assist procurement of reclaimed steel for use in new construction projects.

The system compares two lists of information: a list of reclaimed steel, and a list of design steel. It finds where design elements may be substituted with reclaimed elements. The matching process considers geometric and simple structural properties, along with the waste produced through offcuts and over-specification. The Stockmatcher reviews all suitable substitutions and returns the most efficient matches. The hope is that it will facilitate the wider adoption of reused steel, accelerating practical application of circular economy principles and help to reduce the industry’s significant carbon footprint.

The tool is free to use.

The Biodiversity Net Gain Screening tool is a low-cost, easy to use tool, that estimates a development site’s viability in terms of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and allows nature to be placed at the forefront of strategic decision-making.

Developments will soon be required to deliver +10% BNG in England, and the mitigation hierarchy recommends developers try to avoid impacts in the first instance. The BNG Screening Tool allows the biodiversity implications of a development project to be understood instantly at any time of year. It can be used at any time of year, across England, and an unlimited number of sites can be entered at once.

Biodiversify have designed the tool with ease of use in mind. By just entering the location of the development site(s), the tool automates the process of conducting a desk-based review, analysing high-integrity data sources, and instantly providing a huge range of biodiversity information, including what habitats are present, their distinctiveness, the compensation action required if they were removed, the presence of designated sites, and an estimation of the biodiversity units using the Biodiversity Metric calculation.

This could, for instance, help developers reduce risk, minimise costs and avoid delays, help planning authorities understand the BNG implications of different site allocation options, or help anyone carrying out a land search provide important biodiversity information for a site.

This tool helps the mitigation hierarchy to be followed more effectively, and ensures informed decisions are made about nature.

Biodiversify offer PAYG and subscription-based pricing that grows with your business.

The Climate Risk Indicators by The UK Climate Resilience Programme, The University of Reading, and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology is a website that provides information on future changes to indicators of climate risk across the UK. The information is provided at scales ranging from the district to the four nations of the UK, and for several different scenarios describing how global emissions might increase in the future.

Users can plot maps showing the variation in indicators across the UK and can plot and download current or future time series for specific locations. The indicators are grouped into categories of climate, temperature extremes, heating and cooling, transport and agriculture. It is also possible to select different settings such as emissions scenarios and regions. User can plot climate risk indicators based on variants for different seasons and metrics (for example days per year or % chance).

The research underpinning the data on the website was undertaken as part of the UK Climate Resilience Programme funded by UK Research and Innovation and the Met Office. It uses the UKCP18 climate projections produced by the Met Office.

The Climate Risk Indicators tool is free to use.

cove.tool

cove.tool breaks down barriers in the design and construction cycle, creating a new network of shared information, interoperability, and accountability across projects and teams. As the first cloud-based network of building design tools to create interconnectivity between all teams working in the design and pre-construction cycle, cove.tool reduces risk, boosts transparency, and maximises productivity across the board.

analysis.tool

Using machine learning to select the lowest cost and highest performing design options for a project, analysis.tool is an easy-to-use building performance analysis and energy modelling platform designed to help teams optimise building projects for energy, carbon, and cost.

analysis.tool also includes the Embodied Carbon Feature, which creates simple, automated embodied carbon estimates for a building design project, allowing teams to compare embodied carbon to operational carbon for a complete analysis of a building’s carbon impact through the entire lifespan.

Add your project’s exact location when designing in analysis.tool and the tool will automatically populate the project with local weather data, regionally adopted energy code information, localised cost, regional carbon emission factors (i.e., electricity usage of the project and a constant value against gas usage), and more.

For the UK, cove.tool aligns to utilise the UK National Calculation Methodology automatically. Users can override the automatic configuration and change the standards to adhere to a different energy code or edit the baseline values.

The tool helps teams deliver projects on schedule while maintaining code compliance with automated inputs and even identifying design alternatives to make buildings high-performance while saving on construction costs.

According to cove.tool, using the analysis.tool leads to financial savings for projects:

• Reduce analysis time by 66%
• Reduce construction cost by 3%
• Increase profits by 6%

Giki works with everyone from small businesses through to global companies. Each organisation uses Giki’s science-based platform, and its comprehensive engagement programme, to help employees build sustainable behaviours. Giki can help companies:  

• Build sustainable behaviours to support their sustainability strategy.  
• Helps employees learn what they can do for the planet.
• Measure achievements to report on progress.

Giki keeps employees engaged through:

• Challenges and competitions. Sustainability with a fun twist which are great for engagement and busy people.
• Regular climate action content including webinars and events.
• Carbon footprint calculator with personalised steps so employees can understand, and reduce, their carbon emissions.  

Giki is a B Corp and Social Enterprise with a mission to help people cut carbon. Big or small Giki works with leading companies around the world who want to take climate action now.  

Giki is also a fellow Race to Zero Accelerator.  

Giki’s annual programme and platform packages start from £385. The financial investment depends on the size of your organisation. As a B Corp Social Enterprise, Giki’s goals are driven by impact rather than commercial goals.