'Clean Tech' Yukon Innovation Award Winner Announced

Tuesday, 25 June 2019 15:23

Winners, Jacquin (inner left) and Reaume (inner right) Accept Their Prize

The winners are Cody Reaume and Thomas Jacquin, who worked together to create a 'smart' home ventilation system.

The fifth annual Yukon Innovation Award winner was announced on June 24th, 2019. The winners are Cody Reaume and Thomas Jacquin, who worked together to create a 'smart' home ventilation system.

The theme this year was 'clean tech' with the goal of creating something innovative and eco-friendly.

Minister of Economic Development, Ranj Pillai, spoke at the event, saying "This year's clean tech theme is both relevant and timely. It is about improving sustainability through processes, products, services, and businesses that can improve efficiency, and decrease environmental impact."

Reaume and Jacquin have been awarded $60,000 to further their project. Thomas Jacquin says the money is "going to help to build the next prototype. This is the alpha version, it was just built for this event, but we're going to choose better components in it, improve the reliability, and improve the sensitivity of the sensors. We're going to distribute them into houses and people who have an interest in that and get feedback from them."

The new ventilation system is a product of their company Phylo Technologies, which they started together. Their system, called an HRV, will sense contaminants or ensure high air quality is maintained, while lowering emissions and energy usage as it is only activated when sensors show it is needed, rather than constantly running.

Jacquin says "I think it's good we're bringing an understanding of the quality of air in your house, and also reducing the energy consumption."

Three additional projects will receive $10,000 each to help further their innovations. The projects are: Sabrina Clarke's worm composting kits made from recyclable and local materials, Shane Wolffe's solar air heating project, and Michael Gerasimoff's idea to use static cling to remove harmful particles from wood smoke emissions.

Minister Pillai says "These ideas are very diverse but so important. I mean just right now focused on what we can do for a green economy. We're in a challenging time when it comes to our demand on energy. It's just exciting to see so many bright minds coming together, and we just want to make sure we get a chance to support them all."