{"id":33015,"date":"2016-11-29T05:00:41","date_gmt":"2016-11-29T12:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tested-neuron.flywheelsites.com\/?p=33015"},"modified":"2017-06-13T16:41:13","modified_gmt":"2017-06-13T22:41:13","slug":"engine-runs-water-qa-exergyn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/engine-runs-water-qa-exergyn\/","title":{"rendered":"The Engine That Runs on Water: Q&A with Exergyn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each year, billions of dollars in energy<\/strong> are lost in the form of low-grade waste heat, a common byproduct of fuel consumption. Despite annual waste heat equating to 12 years of electricity consumption in the EU, there remains no commercial solution to convert that heat into usable electricity.<\/p>\n

But what if hot water, a resource that has proven nearly impossible to capitalize on, could be converted into a viable fuel source, thereby harnessing massive amounts of wasted heat energy and reducing global carbon emissions in the process?<\/p>\n

The Exergyn engine could reduce global carbon emissions by a staggering 1.2 percent.<\/i> Tweet This Quote<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thanks to Dublin-based Exergyn<\/a>, one of the truly palpitation-worthy startups to emerge from Ireland\/the U.K. in the last five years, the world may soon have access to an engine that runs on nothing but hot water.<\/p>\n

The Exergyn Drive\u2122 creates electric or mechanical power from low-grade waste heat by tapping into an under-utilized material called shape-memory alloy, a super elastic metal that expands and contracts when heated and cooled. If the Exergyn Drive\u2122 were to be fully deployed within its target market, it could reduce global carbon emissions by a staggering 1.2 percent, equivalent to the U.K.\u2019s total carbon emissions in 2014.<\/p>\n

Co-founder and CEO Alan Healy sat down with Unreasonable on a rainy afternoon in the English countryside to discuss climate change, Exergyn\u2019s potential for colossal disruption, and what it means to live unencumbered by fear.<\/p>\n

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So let\u2019s begin with the evolution of the company \u2014 what path have you traveled to arrive where you are today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Sure, so I’d been working with my two co-founders on another project, and they said: \u201cWe’ve been looking at this technology involving shape-memory alloy and we think there might be a way that we could use it to harness, or to convert, waste heat into energy.\u201d And I looked at it with them and essentially said, \u201cLook, that sounds great. It hits my philosophical buttons because I feel very passionately about the climate. Except I think you’re going about it completely the wrong way from a business perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

The total amount of energy lost each year as wasted hot water alone is equal to twice the output of Saudi Arabia\u2019s oil and gas.<\/i> Tweet This Quote<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So we got to work. I was the first full-time employee, unpaid of course, back in 2012. My partners were working for nothing too, though they sensibly kept working in other paid jobs part-time. Since then, we\u2019ve raised \u20ac6 million in total between co-funding, fundraising, and winning a Horizon 2020<\/a> grant, worth \u20ac2.5 million. Now there are almost 20 people working with us.<\/p>\n

We have, we believe, solved the key issues around the technology. We’ve filed about 20 patents, so we feel we’ve locked down the tech such that no one else can copy what it is we’ll do. We’ve mapped a lot of the potential market and talked to a lot of customers. We\u2019re producing ever-bigger, ever more efficient prototypes. We have produced grid-quality electricity which has been verified by a third party, who was the ex-President of the Institution of Diesel and Gas Turbine Engineers<\/a> in the U.K.<\/p>\n

Our next generation prototype, early 2017, won’t be too far from the end product. Just that we have to put 3,000 hours on it, so it’ll be somewhat funding related. But, yeah, we’re seeing some exciting times!<\/p>\n