By: Christian Hernandez and Alexandra Perez
Next time you walk past a building site and see a crane in operation… envision hundreds of cars worth of air pollution and hundreds of tons of CO2 emissions. You see, there’s a good chance that the crane is being powered by a noisy, dirty and polluting diesel generator.
One in eight deaths can be attributed to air pollution, 91% of world’s population live in places with air that pollution that exceeds WHO guidelines for key pollutants and it is estimated that construction sites alone contribute to 35% of PM10 and 15% of PM2.5 emissions in London. A large part of that air pollution is caused by diesel generators running on “red diesel” which is particularly nasty. The UK government has recently banned red diesel in construction sites, and the construction industry will be forced to purchase “regular” diesel, which is expected to cost the industry up to £490m per year. Oslo and other Norwegian cities are mandating a transition to electrification of construction sites. Not surprisingly the industry is clamouring for alternatives.
The challenge, however, is that many types of construction equipment require a very high amount of power to operate which cannot always easily be provided directly from the grid. Even if a large grid connection can be provided, it is often not utilised efficiently. With the arrival of electric vehicles and machinery, and the increasing use of new technologies in the construction site, these power demands are only set to increase. That is where Ampd Energy comes in.
Based in Hong Kong, Ampd provides a solution for the construction industry through its Enertainer, a container-sized unit which incorporates battery technology with smart grid connections to efficiently, sustainably and quietly power major construction site equipment.
Brandon, Ampd’s founder, took a long and winding road (as entrepreneurs often do) towards the development of Ampd’s construction-focused offering. Along the way, he met Julian, who had spent the last several years deploying Tesla’s EV infrastructure across Asia Pacific and now serves as Ampd’s COO. Ampd has already deployed its solution across over 50 of construction sites in Asia with some of the leading global construction groups and, just as importantly, is already having an impact, having reduced air pollution by the equivalent of removing 20,000 cars from the road.
We are excited to be backing Ampd alongside our friends at Taronga Group to support their vision of electrifying construction sites worldwide, and the whole 2150 team looks forward to supporting their expansion into Europe and beyond. If the mission appeals to you, Ampd has several open roles.
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2150 is a venture capital firm investing in technology companies that seek to sustainably reimagine and reshape the urban environment. 2150’s investment thesis focuses on major unsolved problems across what it calls the ‘Urban Stack’, which comprises every element of the built environment, from the way our cities are designed, constructed and powered, to the way people live, work and are cared for. Find out more at www.2150.vc and follow us on twitter.
