Fairfield County Business Journal 11132017

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4 | MASTER PLANNING November 13, 2017 | VOL. 53, No. 46

YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS

An eye for market risk

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ridgeport’s plan to become the first U .S . city to establish a municipal low-temperature thermal heating district has taken a giant leap forward, following the longawaited passage of Connecticut’s $41 .3 billion state budget . The city’s thermal loop will use a network of underground pipes to distribute energy produced by a fuel cell or a combined heat and power facility to supply space heating and domestic hot water to Bridgeport’s downtown buildings . In

BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westairinc.com

T

» THERMAL, page 6

» INVENTOR, page 6

Bridgeport takes green energy lead with thermal loop kzimerman@westairinc.com

Saudi grad student shows a winning flair for invention

the Climate Protection Award of the U .S . Conference of Mayors . In June, he represented North American cities on international panels at the annual CLEAN conference in Aarhus, Denmark . The Bridgeport project is managed by the Ramboll Group, a private company in Copenhagen, and several Danish companies have provided support for the project during development . Ganim actually inherited the thermal loop project from his predecessor in office, Bill Finch, with whom Easton’s NuPower LLC, a sustainable power

Keith McCullough, founding CEO of Hedgeye Risk Management, at his company’s High Ridge Park office in Stamford. Photo by Phil Hall

essence, waste heat from industries and from electrical generation is converted into heating and hot water for end users . The result will be what supporters consider a more reliable, environmentally friendly and cost-effective energy source than coal or natural gas . “The city prides itself on being a leader in sustainable efforts,” said Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim . “The beauty of it is the simplicity . It makes good environmental sense while saving money .” Ganim, who has proposed various green, sustainable initiatives throughout his mayoral term, noted that the thermal loop project last year won Bridgeport

westfaironline.com

he past couple of months have been a pretty wild ride for Stratford resident Reem AlAttas . In September, the inventive University of Bridgeport student’s next-generation bike helmet won a $10,000 grand prize and the $2,000 Judges’ Favorite Award at the CTNext Entrepreneur Innovator Competition . As a result, her photo appeared on the front page of a newspaper in her native Saudi Arabia, right below that of King Salman . And she’s kicking around ideas for two more inventions, one of which has drawn interest from IBM . “It’s really been crazy,” said the 36-yearold AlAttas, who is pursuing a doctoral degree in computer science and engineering . “Fun, but crazy!” AlAttas’ journey to the States began after she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science at King Saud University in her native country’s capital of Riyadh . Finding work at Microsoft in Saudi Arabia, first as a technical account manager and then as a licensing sales specialist, eventually led her to the U .S . “I used to go to Seattle for Microsoft conferences,” she said . “Then I decided to come to the U .S . as a student to pursue my Ph .D . in computer science and to follow my entrepreneurial passions .” She said she was drawn to the University of Bridgeport because of its strong computer science and engineering programs — something that her parents, who still live in Saudi Arabia, were equally enthusiastic about .

See story on page 2

BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN

13 | BANKING


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