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Nearly 20 years ago , Andrew Bissell was sitting in the bread and butter room of his beachfront home in the Edinburgh orbit . He and his married woman , Susan Lang - Bissell , had just sell their aesculapian imagery startup , and he was pondering his futurity .
“ Do we retire or do we go again ? ” Bissell told TechCrunch .
Around that time , he was leaf through a scientific discipline cartridge holder when he trip up across an article about mood variety , which say there could be between a 30 atomic number 96 to 1 meter rise in ocean degree before the end of the century .
“ pay heed on , ” he say to himself . “ If that materialize , then the animation room , the ground floor of this dwelling house that we live in , will be submerged twice a day . Then you start up thinking about that being in one C of millions of other home around the worldly concern . That ’s not satisfactory . ”
Rather than join Greenpeace — “ that ’s not really what we do ” — he and his wife foundedSunamp . They work with a research laboratory at the University of Edinburgh to get up a way to store solar mogul as heat that can then be used for house heating plant or hot water , what ’s known as a thermalbattery .
At the heart of Sunamp ’s thermal battery are three chemical compound : sodium acetate rayon trihydrate ( SAT ) , a food flavoring used in salt - and - vinegar Irish potato chips ; body of water ; and a sprinkle of so - called crystal habit modifiers . SAT has been used for years in hand heater , which are prepared by heating the sum until it dissolves into a supersaturated solution . When triggered , SAT recrystallizes , giving off heat in the process . The reaction can be reversed , allow SAT to store heat for later use , but not indefinitely . finally , the salt settles out of solution and refuses to recrystallize .
To better the longevity of SAT , Sunamp uses a form of acrylic as a lechatelierite habit qualifier , which avail guide the SAT into the right constellation time and again . “ That ’s both weird and exciting . eldritch that it happens , but exciting because it means that now , alternatively of [ SAT ] getting spoiled and worse over time , it just stay put the same , ” Bissell say , adding that the substance , which Sunamp calls Plentigrade , will last up to 40,000 heating cycles , or more than 50 year of daily habit .
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The destination is to make use of supererogatory renewable business leader , charging the thermal battery when solar is plentiful or pace are flashy because the twist is waste . Overnight or when the air current stops blowing , the stamp battery can discharge , releasing heat as the SAT crystalise .
Sunamp already has a foothold in the United Kingdom and Italy , and it ’s working to amplify into other Western European country and the U.S. The company is in the process of bring up a Series B , and Bissell say that it is generating tax income in the “ X of millions range . ”
The inauguration ’s first widely available product , a compact estrus bombardment for domestic blistering body of water , is targeted at client for whom outer space is a premium . “ Globally , maybe half of rest home can afford the outer space to put a red-hot water tank in , ” Bissell said . “ We ’re for the other one , the ones that ca n’t afford that space . ”
