Reducing emissions from industrial processes sounds like a great idea, but does anyone know for sure that industry is actually producing fewer emissions?
Dan Brake does.
What’s more, he’s also working on a system that can soon accurately predict in the future where, how and why contaminants might seep into the environment from industrial projects.
Brake is CEO of EMSAT Corp., a St. John’s startup that has developed software to analyze in real time environmental data picked up by sensors placed near industrial sites, pipelines, and the like. By placing sensors in and around a site just about anywhere, EMSAT can collect data on such environmental factors as levels of carbon dioxide, sulphur oxides, nitrous oxides or particulates, whether in the air, soil or water.
The company can transmit the data by land line, cellular or satellite communication. EMSAT analyzes them and presents charts, graphs or raw numbers, as the customer requires.
“We’re like an ADT system for the environment,” he said over breakfast at the recent Face2Face conference in Baddeck.
The company, which operates out of the Genesis Centre at Memorial University of Newfoundland, began in 2010 when Brake returned to Newfoundland from stints in California, Australia and the U.K. and teamed up with co-founders Philippe LeBlanc and Ron Thistle. They landed angel funding from environmental entrepreneur Paul Antle, and launched the company.
EMSAT is now conducting a pilot project with Alberta Innovates Technology Futures, a quasi-governmental body that encourages innovation in the resource-rich province. Brake said working with the Alberta agency is great because it could introduce the company to a vast number of clients in the oil patch.
The agency and EMSAT have placed sensors around a test site, which collect information and transmit it so it can be analyzed by the EMSAT software. They have completed the first phase of the project and are discussing plans for Phase 2.
The St. John’s company is now working on predictive analytic solutions that could warn where an incident might occur and why in the future.
It is also working on a scalable solution for various sectors, so it can operate with sensors in water to monitor the conditions around, for example, fish farms. One challenge it faces is determining whether the product needs to be customized for each client.
“Each industry sector has to be customized,” said Brake. “What we’re trying to figure out now is (what) customization is needed for each client.”
EMSAT, which has received support from the National Research Council, the Research Development Corp., and the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Innovation, Business and Rural Development, is now looking to hire one or two developers. It is in discussions with a PhD candidate specializing in environment sciences surrounding greenhouse gases.
Brake said the company will likely have to raise more financing at some point, but it is premature to say when.
