Encraft Ltd

Encraft, based in Warwickshire, makes it easy for property owners to optimise the energy performance of their buildings. The company is developing software tools that show the full carbon and financial costs of different energy technology options and energy efficiency strategies for buildings.

Encraft's software simulates possible energy savings through the installation of new technologies like solar panels or wind turbines. In time, the tools have the potential to help reduce the carbon footprint of every home in the country. With Encraft's products and services, organisations and homeowners alike will be able to draw up a personal energy plan tailored to their own property and to project manage the implementation of that plan in the most economical way. Matthew Rhodes created Encraft around a perceived need for impartial, technically-meaningful information to help people to save energy and reduce emissions from their properties.

Rhodes drew his inspiration from a chance conversation with a German MEP in 2002. A similar company in Germany was handling 2000 projects a month. Having searched far and wide for start-up funding, Rhodes found a former colleague who was equally inspired and offered to back the venture. Encraft now offers a diverse range of low carbon engineering services to the professional and commercial sectors as well as direct to homeowners. The company has grown fivefold in the past 12 months.