IoD Scotland Autumn 2021

Waste weighing
first as authority
looks to improve
recycling rates
SGS’s co-founders
Alan Gooding and
Graham Ault
Smart move as Mitsubishi buys
Strathclyde spin-out
Smarter Grid Solutions – a spin-out from
the University of Strathclyde – has been
acquired by Mitsubishi Electric Power
Products. The company has been hailed
as one of Scotland’s brightest stars in
the fight against climate change by its
long-term investors.
Since launch, the energy software
company’s products have reduced
carbon dioxide emissions by two million
tonnes, the equivalent of taking 165,000
combustion engine vehicles off the road.
The company creates systems that
allow solar panels, wind turbines, and
other renewable energy devices to
be connected to existing electricity
distribution networks, keeping down
the cost of expensive grid upgrades and
managing on-site energy and carbon
footprints.
Following the closure of its sale,
SGS will be able to further scale-up
its contribution to tackling the climate
emergency by helping more grid
operators across the globe to connect
more renewables to their networks and
energy developers to add more clean
energy assets to their fleets.
Graham Ault, co-founder and
executive vice president at SGS, said:
“The support we’ve received from our
investors and the wider Scottish and
UK business community over more than
a decade has been humbling and very
much appreciated.
“We’ve taken research findings from
inside a university and transformed
them into a real-world application
that’s allowing more renewable energy
devices to be connected to electricity
grids across the UK, Europe, and North
America, with our first system in Asia in
the middle of delivery right now.
“Now, with the backing of Mitsubishi
Electric, we’ll be able to take our
work to the next level, expanding our
operations to serve more customers
in more countries and ultimately be
an important contributor to the clean
energy transition.”
Hampden & Co reports double digit growth
Hampden & Co has reported year-onyear
double-digit growth in income,
deposits and lending.
In the six months to 30 June, income
at the Edinburgh-based private bank
was up 24 per cent to £6 million on the
corresponding period last year. Deposits
rose 42 per cent to £603m, and lending
grew 53 per cent to £381m.
CEO Graeme Hartop said: “We have
also been able to grow and strengthen
our relationships with other advisers. The
addition of our new retirement mortgage
service has proved very popular with
advisers and their clients as they seek
effective solutions to managing finances
in later life. This has been reflected in our
performance in the first half.”
A new recycling waste weighing
programme is set to launch in North
Lanarkshire next month.
In what is believed to be the first of
its kind in Scotland for a local authority,
it uses Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID) technology provided by funding
from Zero Waste Scotland.
Household waste and recycling
collections bins will be fitted with RFID
tags that will capture individual bin
weights, with data collected informing
the local authority’s policies on waste
management.
It also aims to increase recycling
rates across the council area as figures
published by the Scottish Environment
Protection Agency found that North
Lanarkshire residents recycled just
around 40 per cent of their household
waste in 2019. North Lanarkshire
Council is committed to raising that
figure to 70 per cent by 2025.
Iain Gulland, Chief Executive Officer
of Zero Waste Scotland, said: “The
primary focus is to gather data to
determine which campaigns and
interventions work best to reduce
residual waste and increase the volume
and efficiency of local recycling.”
Conference shorts
“Sustainability is a
team game. Don’t try
to compete on it; look
to share best practice.
You can compete on
lots of areas - don’t
make saving the planet
one of them...”
IoD Global Conference report,
from page 28
Autumn 2021
iod.com
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