Drying Green – The Economic and Social Benefits of Heat Pump Clothing Dryers by Hermit Technologies

Please find below the judging results for your proposal.

Semi-Finalist Evaluation

Judges'' comments

Comment from Judge 1:
So HPD's are already being manufactured for residential use (by LG and Whirlpool, among other companies), and it seems that they are already been manufactured for commercial use as well (See http://www.primuslaundry.com/about-company/news/primus-introduces-brand-new-heat-pump-dryers/) . It is unclear what the proposal intends to do that would be different, other than launch a new competitive product in a fledgling market. There are no details provided re. technology, so it has to be assumed that designing and building this would need to start from scratch and hope to hit cost targets that would make it viable. In my opinion, the author needs to complete the prototype development phase, and demonstrate the viable pathway to a high performance, lower cost technology to make this proposal work.

Comment from Judge 2:
There are two dimensions to this proposal: the broad focus to reduce commercial/industrial clothes drying energy; and the establishment of a business to manufacture the proposed product. The first is an important issue. The second could potentially be addressed by working with an existing manufacturer, and/or government incentives or mandated standards. Heat pump clothes dryers in the residential sector are growing market share and cost is falling. They are achieving COPs of 3 or better. The proposed product's estimated COP is around 2, but it has to dry more clothes in a shorter time, and faces space constraints if it is to be a 'drop-in replacement' for existing products. The authors claim to have overcome the space issue. It is not clear how the costs and emissions of the proposed product compare with commercial gas dryers, nor what market share gas dryers have in the target markets . This market is energy-intensive, and heat pump dryers offer a significant emission and electricity use saving. But the proposal has not made the case for establishing a new business to compete in an existing industry. Maybe the task is to build a prototype and use that as a basis to form a partnership with an existing manufacturer?

Comment from Judge 3:
This proposal clearly identifies the potential of a specific market sector, that of dryers, for CO2 reduction. However, the proposal looks like a business plan for the development of a new, allegedly more efficient, version of a product already available internationally and produced by several strong competitors (Bosch, Fisher&Paykel, Miele, LG, Asko etc. It is questionable if the gap really lays in the technology or it is rather a problem of market penetration, which is not specifically addressed by this proposal. Furthermore, having laundry companies and hospitality related institutions on board, goes beyond the good will expressed in this proposal.

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