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Business
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2016 Ray S. Eñano, Editor / Roderick dela Cruz, Issue Editor business@thestandard.com.ph
UP ALUMNI HARNESS HEAT TO PRODUCE ICE
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wo University of the Philippines alumni believe that a technological irony could be the next big thing in the local refrigeration industry. They want to harness the heat of the sun to produce ice. King Karl Seroje and Brian Tan Seng established a company that promotes using the heat of the sun, instead of electricity, to activate a sustainable refrigeration system and help the country reduce its carbon footprint. Seroje and Seng are the entrepreneurs behind Cleverheat Thermal Technologies Inc. which revives the use of heat pipe technology for refrigeration and cooling solutions. Another irony is that it is actually an old technology predating the era of electricity, they say, but it is something that can best provide cooling solutions amid today’s global warming. “It is using heat to refrigerate. It is an old technology, but now we are seeing its huge potential, because of the global warming issue,” says 24-year-old Seroje, who obtained a BS Physics Degree from UP in 2015. Seng, 39, describes CleverHeat as “a hardware startup seeking to provide low-carbon footprint solutions to airconditioning and refrigeration by harnessing heat from the sun.” Seng is already a successful IT professional, being the president and chief executive of 98Labs Inc. He graduated from the University of the Philippines-Diliman with a degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering in 2002. Cleverheat’s technology uses heat pipes that absorb and transfer heat from one interface to another. “Cleverheat is developing a non-electric, solar heat-powered refrigeration system, so that industries would reduce the use of electricity for their refrigeration operations. Ice plants, for example, can use Cleverheat for their operations, instead of spending too much on electricity,” says Seroje. Seroje says the same technology can work for air-conditioning needs of households. He says Cleverheat can be installed together with existing electric-powered refrigerator. “Since it is heat-powered, when the sun is up, Cleverheat starts to work and it automatically shuts down the electric powered refrigerator. Once the sun is down, then the conventional refrigerator or air-con can take over. This way, electricity cost is reduced,” he says. Seng explains that compared to costly
photovoltaic system that uses solar panels, Cleverheat uses heat pipes. “We have heat collectors that look like tubes which trap the heat from the sun. That is what drives the refrigeration cycle,” he says. He says the technology is timely because “we have reached a point we are consuming a lot of electricity that contributes to global warming.” “We are reviving this heat technology which is sustainable, because it is using solar heat,” says Seng. Cleverheat is one of the three groups that won the six-month fellowship program and P800,000 in financial support from Impact Hub Manila, World Wide Fund for Nature, Peace and Equity Foundation and the Asian Development Bank. Other awardees are HiGi Energy Pte. Ltd. and
Solar Sari-Sari Store. The two-man team is working on a demo unit that they can showcase to potential customers. “Using the funds that we received from Impact Hub, we want to create a much bigger unit to match the cooling requirements of ice plants,” says Seng. “So far, we have been able to build a proof of concept that really works. There is a solid science behind that,” he says. At least two ice plants have expressed interest in using Cleverheat. “They are just waiting for us to complete the product, then we can install,” Seroje says. Seroje estimates that it would cost P750,000 to build a complete Cleverheat unit designed for ice plants. “In the future, it would be cheaper than electricity, because Cleverheat could pay for itself maybe in one to two years,” says Seng.
The plan also involves providing refrigeration or air-conditioning system for households, says Seroje. “Our primary goal is to close the first customer. We are perfecting the product. Once we have the success story that can be applied on business, hopefully it will roll in more customers,” says Seng. Cleverheat is now being incorporated as a company. “So far, we are just two in the team, but we are recruiting more team members to help us in this project because it will be huge,” says Seng. Roderick T. dela Cruz
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HEAT HARVESTERS.
Cleverheat Thermal Technologies Inc. co-founders Brian Tan Seng (left) and King Karl Seroje
INTERNET RELIANCE RISKY FOR CHILDREN R E S E A R C H conduc ted by iconKids & Youth for Kaspersky Lab has uncovered the harsh impac t of I nternet overdependency among children across the globe. About 55 percent of children were qualified by the research as dependent on the Internet. These children are twice as likely to conceal potentially risky online activities from their parents and use content, inappropriate for their age. The survey of 3,780 families with children aged 8 to 16, conducted across seven countries, found that dependency on the Internet has a marked impact on kids’ behavior and actions. When asking children to score key aspects of their daily life between 1 and 10, their ability to learn and interact with peers and parents suffers as children get older. This trend was most notable in relationships with parents, with Internet dependent children showing a steady worsening in their parental relationships as they get older. A third (36 percent) of kids dependent on the Internet freely share their home address details online, compared to just a quarter (25 percent) of those who are non-dependent. They are also more likely to share information about the places they visit often (60 percent vs. 41 percent), expensive purchases made (41 percent vs. 27 percent) and where their parents work (36 percent vs. 26 percent). Children at the younger end of the internet dependent spectrum are more likely to share this information than older kids. Family relationships are also at risk, with Internet dependent children twice as likely (50 percent) to communicate less with their parents than those not dependent on the Internet (25 percent), as a result of their connected devices.
DAVAO CHOCOLATES REACH THE US SHORES MALAGOS Premium Chocolates, which are produced in the Philippines, are now available in the United States, according to the Trade Department’s Philippine Trade and Investment Center - Los Angeles. This followed the announcement made by Davao-based Malagos AgriVentures during its recent participation at the North West Chocolate Festival in Seattle, Washington on Nov. 12 to 13. The Malagos line of chocolates has received acclaim from international fine food and chocolate award-giving bodies in Europe for its premium qualities. The products are single-origin, having been manufactured fully on-site on its farm in Davao. Jojie Dinsay, trade representative of the Philippines for the US West Coast and head of the Philippine Trade and Investment Centers in Los Angeles and San Francisco said this is another success story for the promotions efforts of premium food products in the US market as a result of the partnership
between government and the private sector. “We are very happy and proud to have another premium product from the Philippines enter this market,” Dinsay said. “The Philippine Trade and I nvestment Centers as par t of our mandate will continue to support companies like Malagos in promoting their products all over the world”. Featuring 110 exhibitors, the Nor thwest Chocolate Festival is known to be among the top shows for artisan chocolates in the world today with around 12,000 visitors. Malagos Premium Chocolates, a multi-awarded Philippine chocolate from Davao, was introduced not only to choco-loving consumers but to traditional and artisan chocolatiers, chefs and baristas present at the show. Malagos Agri-Ventures’ participation at the NW Chocolate Festival was supported by the DTI’s Export Marketing Bureau. Prior to this, assistance from the
DTI regional office in Davao was also recognized by Malagos. The Malagos brand is also expected to be introduced by Ampac International Inc., its importer in the United States, to Uni-Mart Niles in Niles, Illinois and Uni-Mart Hoffman in Hoffman Estates. Rex Puentispina, sales and marketing head of Malagos Agri-Venture, said joining the festival validates his belief that their chocolates can match the quality and taste of US and other international brands. “ We have received a lot of good feedback from chocolate lovers visiting our booth,” said Puentispina. “There were even some who say that this is one of the best they have ever tasted.” I n 2 0 1 5 at t h e I nte r n at i o n a l Chocolate Awards, Malagos 65-percent Dark Chocolate was named one of world’s best drinking chocolates. In the same year, it won at the Academy of Chocolate Awards when its 100-percent Unsweetened Chocolate won the
Bronze Award for Best Unflavored Drinking Chocolate. In 2016, its Premium 100-percent Unsweetened Chocolate won the silver at the Drinking Chocolate competition of the Academy of Chocolate’s Eighth Golden Bean Awards in London. It also won this year a blind-taste competition when its Unsweetened Chocolate earned two of the maximum three stars awarded by Great Taste, the world’s most prestigious food accreditation body. The company continues to invest in equipment and technology, producing its premium, single-origin chocolate products such as Malagos 100-percent Pure Unsweetened Chocolate, Malagos Roasted Cocoa Nibs, Malagos 65-percent Dark Chocolate, Malagos 72-percent Dark Chocolate and Malagos 85-percent Dark Chocolate. With its expansion in the United States, Malagos is expected to generate more jobs for Filipinos back in the Philippines.
Trade and Investment Center-Los Angeles and San Francisco trade representative Jojie Dinsay (left) with Rex Puentispina of Malagos Agri-Ventures at the NorthWest Chocolate Festival.