5 QUESTIONS

1. Please introduce yourself

I'm Nick Christy, 39 and from the UK originally but now live in Brisbane, Australia. I went to school in the UK, Belgium and Germany, have an Economics Degree from the University of Nottingham.  I'm a prize winning Chartered Accountant who trained with KPMG and have been involved in a number of startups (Internet hosting and energy efficiency) and have held over 20 board level positions including a listed company. I co-founded CINTEP in 2008 and have worked full time on commercializing the recycling shower for the last 3 years. I'm also passionate about music and co-own an award winning music production and recording company where we help young musicians achieve their dreams.

2. Can you shortly describe your Green Challenge entry?

We make showers that use 70% less water and energy without reducing flow at the showerhead or time spent in the shower.  It's a product that appeals to your heart (it's a great shower), your head (it's environmentally responsible) and your wallet (it's much cheaper to run). 

3. Where did you get this idea?

Literally, in the shower. When I moved to Australia I found that most major cities had severe droughts and major water restrictions. In Brisbane, where I live, in June 2009 the water supply for the city was at less than 20% capacity and there were very strict restrictions on water use. One requirement was for you to limit yourself to one 4-minute shower per day using a very low flow showerhead. Showering in 4 minutes is possible but there are many people who don't want to rush their shower and they want to spend longer just standing under the water. Even if they know they shouldn't do it, some people will do it anyway. I realised that when you do that, much of the water is barely dirty and that it must be possible to recycle that water easily. I wondered if it was possible to create a shower that would let you spend longer in the shower but still use much less water and energy.

When I looked into creating a recycling shower I discovered that what looks simple, recycling shower water, isn't simple if you want to create a product that people will use. If you want a shower that is hygienic, safe and that doesn't share water between users, then there are very limited options to make it happen.  I spent some time researching existing designs and found Peter Brewin, an award-winning designer who had won prizes for his designs for a recycling shower system. We founded CINTEP together in 2008 to make his design a commercial reality.

4. Why do you want to contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions? Where does your drive come from?

My motivation is broader than just reducing CO2 emissions. Water is an equally pressing issue as we currently use 60% of all available freshwater reserves on the planet and water use is currently doubling every 20 years. The motivation for me is that we only have one planet, there is no 'plan B' and that it is just common sense to want to preserve those things that we depend on for life as we know it.

I also recognise that it is very hard to change people's behavior, particularly if you are asking them to sacrifice something that they enjoy. What drives me is finding a way to provide a solution that is sacrifice free for the user, significantly better for the planet and is sustainable both in terms of the way it works and from a commercial perspective. I believe that is the key to long-term benefit for the planet – more efficient products that people really want to use.

5. What difference will your plan make if it comes to market if you win the €500.000 Green Challenge prize?

It will make a huge difference to a lot of people:

For CINTEP it will provide enough funding for us all to work full time on developing the product. My 2 engineers have both been working in evenings and weekends and live in 2 different cities. This means we only manage to get together as a group about once per month. Winning would mean I could hire them both full time and we would all be working in the same city. This would mean that what is currently taking a month to achieve would happen every 2 – 3 days. It would also mean that we could focus entirely on product development and marketing whereas at the moment most of my time is spent looking for funding.

For our customers – it will give them certainty about when the product will come to market and that we have the resources to get the product to them. Currently we have spoken with a lot of potential customers but it is hard for them to commit to a product that is not yet ready and with an uncertain timetable. Winning the Green challenge prize would remove almost all of that uncertainty.

Environmentally it could potentially make a huge difference.  If we could achieve the mythical 1% market share in Europe, USA and Australia the amount of CO2 saved would be 5.3 million tons annually. The amount of water saved would be 211,574 gigalitres annually.