Breathing Buildings provides low energy natural ventilation systems, using the principles of natural mixing ventilation in winter and natural upward displacement ventilation in the summer. The company was formed as a spin out from the University of Cambridge in 2006, following the discovery and development of the proprietary low energy e-stack mixing ventilation system as part of a major research programme at the BP Institute, through the Cambridge-MIT Institute, with funding from BP plc. The technology was filed for patent by the University of Cambridge, and Breathing Buildings has exclusive rights to the technology.