"Enjay and its Lepido system could become a standard in Germany – and the rest of the world. The key factor is that Lepido has automatic cleaning. There are several competing systems in the market and to some degree, recycling energy from restaurant ventilation is mandatory in Germany. But the cleaning is a big issue, it’s expensive and time consuming. Lepido solves it by starting automatic cleaning as soon as operations stop for the day."

So says Stefan J. Herde, who is in charge of international business development at the leading German engineering company Emutec GMBH. As such, he is always looking for ways for his company’s customers to reduce their emissions of fossil CO2 and improve their energy efficiency. Meeting Enjay through the Swedish Chamber of Commerce immediately turned out to be a perfect match. 

– The Swedish Chamber of Commerce hosted a dinner and I was suddenly sitting opposite Enjay co-founder Nils, talking about business. I was so excited about their patent that I told him this was a game changer for heat recovery. I went to Sweden and they came here, which gave us an understanding of how good a match our companies are. Our common mission is simply to create a better future, Stefan Herde says.

After becoming familiar with the technology and the mindset of Enjay, Stefan Herde was convinced that a partnership with Enjay would be mutually beneficial – and could have a big impact on the whole German market.

– We have never found a similar product that can recover heat as well as Enjay. Lepido is patented, new and a very good business opportunity for us to partner up with to show the rest of the world a new solution. We always have to make it fit the customer, which is where we can add something, Enjay has the product and we can make it fit, Stefan Herde explains.

While other engineering firms are highly specialized, Emutec gathers a wide array of different areas of expertise in its organization. At their eight offices in Germany, Emutec’s 200 employees offer to help customers from the planning stage of a construction project until the keys are handed over to the owner. Among those customers are some of the biggest accounts in German, both in the public and the private sector.

Not only restaurant chains are given a chance to get a closer look at the Lepido system, Emutec informs all customers with food preparations on their premises of the opportunity to save money on their heating or cooling costs at the same time as they reduce their harmful emissions of fossil CO2.

– Customers often ask us about new technologies to be used in public buildings, for instance when a school or a hospital is being renovated. Many such buildings have large kitchens and desperately want to decrease both their CO2 emissions and their costs. Lots of systems in the market promise that, but the gathering dust and debris cause problems in operations. Cleaning is expensive and not cleaning is a fire hazard. This is where Lepido and its automatic cleaning comes in, solving the problem once and for all, Stefan Herde concludes.