SVANTE BENGTSSON: REHACT
Plan: This heating, cooling and ventilation system for buildings is based on a special heat exchanger that combines these functions and works with an IT component and a heat pump. It takes in air from outside and removes air from indoors to regulate indoor temperature. The company says it reduces energy use by up to 85 per cent. Heat pumps cut the need for external energy by moving heat, and distribution by a heat exchanger reduces it further. Much of the system's energy can be generated from on-site renewable sources, further lowering carbon output.
Biography: During the first year at the Stockholm School of Economics Svante studied at 150% speed while starting Rehact with his business partner. He has been member of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation for most of his life and has a profound drive to help save the environment using his expertise as a business manager. In 2011 Rehact was selected as one of the top 25 Cleantech Startups in the Nordic region. He has established networks within the Swedish Green Building Council and is now on their special task force to adapt the international building codes for green buildings.
Rehact Website
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5 QUESTIONS
1. Please introduce yourself
My Name is Svante Bengtsson (40 yrs). I'm from Stockholm, Sweden and I hold a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Systems Science from Stockholm University along with entrepreneurial and management studies at Stockholm School of Economics and Stanford. I have been brought up close to nature and have always been fascinated by its ability to change and surprise me. I am a professional divemaster and have for many years seen the effects of too much nutrition in the Baltic Sea and in the lakes in Sweden. When I founded Rehact together with my partner Mr. Jerzy Hawranek I wanted to combine green innovation with business as I do believe that finding a good business plan is the only way to promote green solutions.
2. Can you shortly describe your Green Challenge entry?
My entry is the Rehact Energy System, a new way of heating, cooling and ventilating buildings. Today, buildings use about 30-40 % of all the energy produced in the world. Our solution can reduce this consumption by up to 85 %. It works through an innovative distribution of thermal energy that enables the heat pump and ventilation systems to be much more efficient at a reduced energy cost. Reducing energy need by 85 % will reduce CO2 emissions significantly.
3. Where did you get this idea?
I have developed this idea with my partner, Mr. Jerzy Hawranek, who has been working with heat pumps and thermal distribution for over 20 years.
4. Why do you want to contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions? Where does your drive come from?
I have seen the effects humans have on the seas through over-nutrition of land. To me the question is not if we effect nature, the question of how much? If we affect the skies as much as we have done the seas, then we are in serious trouble. My parents have grown their own crops for over 40 years and I have always been brought up with the concept of the circular system in which nature works. The balance cannot be twisted too far without affecting something else.
5. What difference will your plan make if it comes to market if you win the €500.000 Green Challenge prize?
Today more than 50% of earths inhabitants live in cities and this is a rapid growing number. At the same time buildings last for a very long time and if built wrong they will unnecessarily consume huge quantities of energy. We provide a solution that allows for better utilisation of renewable energy sources combined with increased indoor comfort. It is an area that few focus on but it is hugely important. If we win the Green Challenge this money will be used to take the product to market. Today we have the networks and we have government support, we just lack the funding.
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