Two University of Waterloo startups have been named among 10 winners of a national energy solutions competition.
Evercloak Inc. will receive funding to support a $1.2 million project to develop a dehumidification technology for air conditioners that will cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the energy use of cooling systems by over 50 per cent. Michael Pope, assistant professor, chemical engineering, and Evelyn Allen, corporate researcher partnerships manager, in the Office of Research co-founded the company in 2018.
The announcement of winners in the Breakthrough Energy Solutions Canada Initiative was made Wednesday by Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Seamus O’Regan. The first-of-its-kind public-private initiative in Canada is aimed at accelerating the development of clean energy technologies with the potential to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.
Evercloak specializes in manufacturing ultra-thin graphene and other 2-D nanomaterial films for cleantech applications. The low-cost advanced manufacturing platform builds ultra-thin nanomaterial membranes, enabling disruptive clean technologies that will reduce cost, energy use, and associated greenhouse gas emissions throughout the oil and gas, nuclear, energy, mining, and agri-food sectors. The Evercloak technology is based on an earlier innovation by Professor Pope and has been supported by the Waterloo Commercialization Office (WatCo) which helps Waterloo researchers and partners further develop opportunities for commercialization.
The company has been recognized previously for their innovation including:
- CEO selected as a finalist in the Women in Cleantech Challenge
- Waterloo startup wins Ignite seed funding
Smarter Alloys was also named among the winners which could receive up to $3 million to develop their clean energy technologies. The Waterloo startup developed an innovation to use heat engine technology to generate inexpensive, emissions-free electricity.