Ashden Awards Longlist

UK Energy Innovation

Ashden Awards

Each year Ashden makes awards as a mark of excellence in the field of green energy. Ashden's energy experts rigorously research organisations working in sustainable energy and publish a longlist of candidates each January from whom winners will be announced in July.

In 2019 there are ten different categories designed to highlight a variety of successful organisations in the UK and internationally.

There are three categories which focus on the UK:

• UK Clean Air in Towns and Cities
• UK Sustainable Buildings
• UK Energy Innovation

1. UK Clean Air in Towns and Cities

The organisers are looking for ways of improving air quality in city centres.

ICAX systems provide heating and cooling in towns and cities without using combustion, and without releasing any air pollution on-site.

2. UK Sustainable Buildings

The organisers are looking for routes to upgrade the UK’s existing buildings as the most effective way of quickly decarbonising our built environment, so this year’s longlist focuses on retrofitting.

ICAX specialises in retrofitting existing buildings with low-carbon heating and cooling systems.

3. UK Energy Innovation

The organisers are looking for focus on energy storage and decarbonising the heat supply.

ICAX systems collect heat in the summer, store it in the ground over the autumn and deliver it in winter to heat buildings without burning fossil fuels. ICAX also uses temporary heat storage in insulated tanks in order to shift demand for electricity from times of peak demand to times of excess supply. The CO₂ emitted by the BEN system has been reduced by 77% compared to the CO₂ previously emitted by gas boilers for the same amount of heat.

The 2019 Longlist for the UK Energy Innovation category

Four candidates have been longlisted in January 2019 in the category "UK Energy Innovation", including ICAX for its role in designing and installing the Balanced Energy Network at London South Bank University.

Through its collaboration across seven partners and the integration of heat pumps, fifth generation heat networks, thermal energy storage and Demand Side Management, the BEN project has a solution to two of the most pressing problems now facing engineers:

• how to reduce carbon emissions (to nil) for heating and cooling
• how to reduce (to nil) NO₂ emissions in city centres.

The BEN project has successfully demonstrated the path that can now be taken to a clean energy future.

The longlist reflects Ashden's focus on energy storage and decarbonising the heat supply. The four longlisted candidates are:

• Guru Systems – data analysis for heat networks
• Highview Power – large scale electricity storage
• ICAX – balanced energy networks incorporating heat storage
• Powervault – home scale electricity storage

London Climate Action Week

The Ashden Awards Ceremony will be a flagship event of the first ever London Climate Action Week and will be held on Wednesday 3 July 2019, at the Royal Geographic Society in London.

The Mayor of London is inviting people from across London’s climate change leaders and organisations to showcase how practical climate solutions can be scaled up to a city-wide scale. The Mayor also wants to hear of innovative solutions that can address the climate challenge. The BEN project is proudly meeting that challenge and addressing the Energy Trilemma.