Member Article

Mayoral visit for growing Calderdale green energy pioneers

Elland-based innovator FeTu, whose award-winning green energy device aims to tackle climate change by reducing energy consumption and emissions, welcomed Calderdale mayor, Dot Foster, this week.

Councillor Foster visited the firm to highlight the ground-breaking engineering work being carried out in the region and congratulate the FeTu team on recent award wins.

The business was established in 2017 when designer Jon Fenton left his job at Elland’s ValveTek, after a 35-year career in mechanical engineering, to develop an idea he first had as a teenager.

Mr Fenton’s invention of a positive displacement turbine has been developed with backing from Innovate UK and several leading UK universities, including Bath, Brunel, City of London. Glasgow and Huddersfield.

The unique heat engine recovers energy while generating power from low-yield heat sources, as well as enabling new efficiencies for cooling, heating and fluid power, and is set to supercharge the race towards Government targets of reaching net zero CO2 emissions by 2050.

“It’s been a big 12 months for FeTu, with several innovation awards and some big strides forward in the development of our product. We asked the mayor to help us celebrate the work we’ve done and highlight how a local firm is shaking up a global industry,” said Jon Fenton.

“We collaborate with a variety of institutions across the UK in order to keep our development cycle moving, but our technology was invented, designed and built right here in Yorkshire and we are committed to improving our regional economy. We’ve also brought nine jobs to the area as part of our continued expansion, with further hires planned for 2020.”

Councillor Foster said: “I was very pleased to be invited to visit FeTu and learn about their innovative engineering solutions, particularly the potential uses for environmental benefit. FeTu is a fascinating company and their original technology is set to be of huge benefit locally, nationally, and internationally.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Kilmurray .