Full Steam Ahead With GreenSteam

    Picture 1Daniel Jacobsen, CEO of Decision 3 came from the Faroe Islands to attend the Lahti Cleantech Day 09 to tell about his company’s product, GreenSteam. Fuel efficiency and optimization of existing ships is their business, and as the maritime sector is looking for ways to drive down emissions and costs GreenSteam is coming out right on time with their technology.

    Seafaring is getting under a lot of pressure to minimize CO2 emissions, 15% till 2015 is what the International Maritime Organization demands, and with 6% of global CO2 emissions by 2020 being emitted by the sector its high time to look for ways to optimize. Given that fuel costs are often half of a seafaring company’s expenses, looking for ways to optimize should come natural.

    The four scientists and engineers of Decision 3 started out as a R&D project, and in 2006 established the company. The company is employee owned and has two investors, Framtak and Royndin. Jacobsen disclosed that they are looking for a investment in the EUR 2m region, and wish from their investor an active involvement in the company – Jacobsen said they’re looking for “intelligent capital, not just money”.

    GreenSteam can help vessels gain about 4% in fuel efficiency, and has a short payback time. It also gives a green profile boost to the ship owner, and is easy to install and operate. GreenSteam observes the vessel, the data is then used in a model and finally the ship is optimized. The company is focussing on the Scandinavian market, as fuel efficiency is a hot topic in the region, and with 4000 vessels in the region the market is sufficiently big.

    The company and their technology is very promising. They need the capital infusion to get a marketing and sales person on board, as Jacobsen noted “just because we are good at this, does not mean we are good at everything”. GreenSteam is aware of its competition, Eniram from Finland has a very similar technology as the Faeroese and have already been nearly two years in business.