2020 Winners, Geo-Air, Share their Spark Experience
Hi from Geo-Air - winners of the 2020 Spark! contest,
Our team consisted of Toby, 28-year-old mechanical engineer, Ryan, 26-year-old electrical and instrumentation engineer and Marta, 22-year-old mechanical engineer who recently graduated from Imperial College London. The three of us are part of Mott MacDonald in Hinckley, where we work with the UK Gas Transmission Infrastructure. We decided to take part in The Spark Contest as we all share an interest in new energy technologies and thought this was the perfect opportunity to develop our idea.
Our time with Spark! Our journey started with submitting a brief abstract shortly before Christmas. After our break we found out we had made it to the next round (Wahey!). The next stage was writing a Business Case proposal – we valued the chance to both develop our idea but also tackle making a viable and bankable plan to get it to market. It was great to have support from our Mentors who are industry experts and experienced in developing new ideas. Finally, we made it to the final, where we pitched our idea to a panel of dragons. It was great to hear the broad range of ideas from the other finalists’ presentations! Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience. The Spark! Team were really helpful throughout the process, especially adapting the contest to travel restrictions to keep the show running! We also really appreciated the support from Mott MacDonald so we were able to give our best at every stage!
Our start up: Geo-Air Heating Our start-up idea: Geo-Air Heating is a new hybrid ground and air source heat pump.
Geo-Air takes the advantages of both heat pump systems, but with the unique feature of using the air source heat pump to store heat in the ground at a very low cost by combining off peak electricity and weather warm. This heat stored in the ground would help the ground source heat pump to increase heat output and reduce power demand in cold weather – reducing the size of the system and the electricity costs. Our team wanted to provide a unique and innovative heating system which tackled the pressing environmental problems in the Anglo-French energy market and provided an alternative to traditional fossil fuel heating systems. We wanted to prove that low carbon transition can be accomplished by the actions of individuals in society, by pumping energy into the future!
Got an idea that could challenge the sector? Why not get involved with Spark 2020-21 and sign up today!