The Irish Times Innovation Awards April 2014 | Page 22

CATEGORY: ENERGY & THE ENVIRONMENT O YMEM ® SMART AERATION Winner: O OxyMem O YMEM YMEM O YMEM ® SMART AERATION ® SMART AERATION ® OxyMem is a breakthrough technology for the wastewater aeration ® market tackling the industry’s biggest challenge AERATION SMART - energy costs. For 100 years the cornerstone of global wastewater treatment has been ‘Forced’ or ‘Bubble’ aeration, the process used to deliver oxygen to the bacteria breaking down pollutants. Their solution does not rely on this highly inefficient method, instead they use gas permeable membranes capable of delivering oxygen directly to the bacteria, resulting in a four-fold energy saving with more compact, lower cost infrastructure. Innovation of the Year Airsynergy Airsynergy has developed and patented scalable wind turbine designs that double the power output from wind turbines and, for the first time, make wind energy cheaper than fossil fuels. The Airsynergy wind turbine performs much more efficiently at lower wind speeds thereby multiplying the number of feasible wind sites available globally. Irish Aviation Authority The IAA has greatly improved air traffic management in Dublin’s airspace by introducing Point Merge, an innovative and environmentally friendly new air traffic management system, which is delivering real benefits to its airline customers, including reductions in fuel burn and CO2 emissions (by over 19% per flight ) and reduced delays to passengers. The new system, is completely different from traditional air traffic control techniques used at airports throughout the world.