REHEATZ June Update
On June 23rd, the REHEATZ project held a full system demonstration event at the Zambeef Huntley Farm facility. It was a culmination of collaborative research in action into waste water heat recovery (WWHR) carried out by the REHEATZ team and partners over the last three years. Among the 40 attendees, representatives from Zambian government ministries, the Embassy of Ireland to Zambia, industry, academia, and both non-and inter-governmental organisations. The event benefitted from the welcome support of the AIB Trinity Climate Hub which was acknowledged through inclusion of AIB Trinity Climate Hub logo in presentation and brochure materials. A summary of the event is below:
Opening the event, Dr. Godfrey Hampwaye, the REHEATZ project Zambian lead, welcomed the guests, observing that some had attended the pilot system demonstration event in April 2024. At that time, the pilot system had operated for just one month, and the site was in many ways still under construction. Today, he said, visitors would be able to see the results of the subsequent two years of collaboration with our industry partner, Zambeef, and our social impact partner, Build-It International. These sentiments were echoed by Mr. Ezekiel Sekele, Head of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability at Zambeef, who highlighted the importance of energy efficiency to his company and to Zambian businesses. For Mr. Sekele, the REHEATZ project “demonstrates how innovative technologies can deliver not only environmental benefits, but also meaningful opportunities for skills development, employment, and youth empowerment”.
Those “meaningful opportunities” had emerged in February 2025, when REHEATZ entered into a partnership with Build-It International to train and employ six Zambian young people. The four young men and two young women had previously graduated from Build-It’s Training Into Work program before returning for additional upskilling in plumbing necessary to engage actively in the construction of the full-scale WWHR system. Throughout and subsequently, REHEATZ explored the social impact of the experience on the trainees. Through a series of social impact surveys, they reported that family support, school fee payments, savings, and overall household welfare improvements were among the positive outcomes experienced. To recognize their achievement, the guest of honor, Mr. Herrick Mwewya (Ministry of Green Economy and Environment), presented each of the graduate trainees with letters of recommendation and certificates of achievement. On completion of this stage of the event, the attendees visited the working system installation nearby at Zambeef.
Over lunch, policymakers, educators, business representatives, and researchers from Build-It, Trinity College, and SAIPAR met and discussed the future of the project, and of energy efficiency in Zambian business. At the close, memoranda of understanding were signed between the REHEATZ project and three African institutions. These memoranda extend the collaboration already in evidence and underpin planning for continuation of the work of the REHEATZ project through a spin-out venture. The venture aims to strengthen existing relationships and pave the way for exciting new cross-collaborations between Irish universities, Zambian skills development organizations, and the broader research community in Southern Africa.