Albotherm is a deep tech start-up company founded in 2020 after spinning out from the University of Bristol. We have developed responsive coatings that reflect excess light and heat only in hot weather, keeping buildings cool without any energy input. Our coatings will help combat climate change, by reducing global electricity consumption by up to 3%. Our initial products are for commercial greenhouses, where we can help growers produce up to 34% more food. After successful proof of concept trials last summer, we have now raised investment to expand our team and continue optimising our product offering, leading to commercial pilots and launching our first product line.

Albotherm currently has a small but expanding team, with our R&D team currently made up of three full time researchers, including a lead formulation chemist and a research chemist.

At Albotherm, we are currently developing a prototype coating that can be applied to greenhouses to help manage temperature. These coatings transition from transparent to white as they heat up, reflecting away excess light and heat only in hot weather. Compared to the current market leading solution, which is to simply paint greenhouse roofs white, we have shown that our technology increases light levels by around 18% giving an increase in crop productivity of 34%.

Over the summer of 2023, we would like to test our prototype coatings performance in greenhouse trials. We are going to be setting up internal greenhouse trials, run at a local allotment. These would be small scale trials, working with greenhouses that are approximately 4m2, comparing Albotherm’s coatings to current competitors on the market. The trials will involve collecting temperature and light data as well as running crop trials.

We are looking for a student to help in the design and running of our greenhouse trials. This will involve setting up the monitoring equipment, setting up the trials and analysing the results of the trial. The student will become a member of Albotherm’s R&D team and will be working closely with our CTO and Lead Formulation Chemist.

There will also be some literature work investigating the potential effects of our coatings on crop and greenhouse productivity. The results of the trials will be used to determine the product specifications for Albotherm’s larger scale commercial trials which will be taking place in Spring 2024.