Isramart : Math boffins want partners to sell carbon reduction software

Isramart news:
Australian mathematicians have developed software aimed at helping businesses prioritise their carbon reduction projects and are on the hunt for partners.

The CarLO software analyses potential carbon reduction, cost and budget of projects allowing business to pick which ones to pursue. It was developed by Melbourne Operations Research director Dr Heng-Soon Gan, and a former consultant to the department, Brendan Kite. The research group is part of the University of Melbourne Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

The software will not be available for another six months, Gan said. For the software to work, businesses would have enter the details of the project.

"If you enter a hundred projects it will try to select the best for you to carry out across time," Gan said. “It accounts for interaction of time, value for money, budget constraints and the targets that you need to meet.”

Gan said the tool would be useful to all Australian businesses and organisations trying to reduce their emissions, with enterprise picked as the main target.

It took Gan and Kite six months to develop the software. Carboncontrol was signed on as the exclusive distribution partner late last year.

Gan said he was still negotiating a cost for companies to use the tool. He claimed the plan was to make it affordable for businesses of all sizes to use.

In a statement, Carboncontrol said it was on the lookout for partners to “implement and setup” the upcoming solution, which is still being finalised by both parties.

One potential problem the project faces is the Government’s inability to pass Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) legislation, which would greatly increase demand for the tool. But Gan insisted it was not an issue that would slow down the software’s rollout.