heating your home with a TABLE

[Serpo]

Save money on energy bills by heating your home with a TABLE: Layers of wax in the furniture regulate temperatures in any room

A Paris-based duo has designed a table that traps and releases heat
The Zero Energy Furniture does not require any electricity
Instead, wax melts and absorbs heat when its too hot and hardens and releases this heat when it is too cold
This keeps room temperature constant and cuts energy costs up to 60%

By Jonathan O'Callaghan for MailOnline (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Jonathan+O%27Callaghan+for+MailOnline)
Published: 20:29 EST, 20 May 2015 | Updated: 21:30 EST, 20 May 2015









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You may soon be able to replace your energy-hungry heaters and air conditioning units with tables filled with wax.
The so-called 'Zero-energy Furniture' looks a like regular table but has a hidden layer of wax beneath its surface.
This wax absorbs heat when the room reaches a certain temperature, and as the room cools the wax hardens and releases this trapped heat back into the air.
And its makers claim the design could cut energy bills by 60 per cent.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/05/20/10/28E3297800000578-3089051-image-a-14_1432115671374.jpg


A Paris-based duo has designed a table (shown) that traps and releases heat. The Zero Energy Furniture does not require any electricity. Instead, wax melts when it is too hot and hardens when it is cold. This keeps room temperature constant and cuts energy costs up to 60 per cent

The table was created by Paris-based duo (http://zef-design.tumblr.com/Team) Jean-Sébastien Lagrange, a designer, and engineer Raphaël Ménard.



IS HEATING MAKING US FAT? Researchers say that cosy, centrally heated bedrooms may be making us fat - meaning losing weight could be as simple as turning down the radiator.
Something as simple as sleeping in a cool room for a month could make major difference, a US medical conference heard last year.
While the idea may seem bizarre, the researchers from Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney said warmer homes could be a hidden contributor to the obesity epidemic.


They said their Climatic Table could ‘address climate and energy issues on a furniture scale’ rather than a building scale, reported Wired (http://www.wired.com/2015/05/table-sucks-heat-lower-ac-bills/).
Beneath the top of the table are rows of wavy aluminium, which support a phase-change material (PCM) - specifically a type of wax.
When the temperature in a room reaches 22°C (71°F) the wax melts, taking heat from the surrounding environment and reducing the room temperature.
Then, when the temperature drops below this level, the wax hardens and the trapped heat is released back into the room, warming it up again.
This means that the table could be used to keep rooms at a near-constant temperature, acting like a ‘thermal sponge’.
It can supply 60 per cent of the heat that would normally be needed by a heater, while it can reduce the need for air conditioning by 30 per cent.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/05/20/10/28E3298700000578-3089051-image-a-13_1432115668681.jpg


Under the top of the table are rows of wavy aluminium, which support a phase-change material (PCM) - specifically a type of wax (shown in illustration)


http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/05/20/10/28E3297200000578-3089051-image-a-12_1432115666460.jpg


When the temperature in a room reaches 22°C (71°F) the wax will melt, taking heat from the surrounding environment and reducing the room temperature

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/05/20/10/28E3296500000578-3089051-image-a-11_1432115664357.jpg



http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/05/20/10/28E3298200000578-3089051-image-a-10_1432115661747.jpg



The table (pictured left and its layers pictured right) can supply 60 per cent of the heat that would normally be needed by a heater, while it can reduce the need for air conditioning by 30 per cent

The inventors said the table is best suited for a room that has a fluctuating temperature, for example a meeting room that can hold up to 15 people.
While it is hot during meetings the table could store excess heat from the bodies in the room, and release it back when the room is empty.
The duo showed off their table at the Milan Design Week, although there’s no news yet on how much it might cost or when it might be released.
They are planning to look into other energy-saving products as well, such as lights that could also be used to trap and release heat.

Read more:

ZEF team - The ZEF program (http://zef-design.tumblr.com/Team)
This Table Sucks Up Heat to Lower Your AC Bills | WIRED (http://www.wired.com/2015/05/table-sucks-heat-lower-ac-bills/)







Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3089051/Save-money-energy-bills-heating-home-TABLE-Layers-wax-furniture-regulate-temperatures-room.html#ixzz3aiSJrYet

[madfranks]

I doubt very much that the wax can absorb and release enough heat to reduce heating bills by the 60% that they claim. A quick google search tells me that wax has a specific heat of 3.43, while water has a specific heat of 4.18, which means that regular old water absorbs and releases more heat as its temperature rises and falls. I bet if they made the same table and filled the channels with water, it would do a better job of regulating temperature than the wax filled counterpart.

Water has the highest specific heat of any common substance, which is why it's so good at putting out fires. It absorbs tons of heat as its temp rises.

[Twisted Titan]

Yeah .......what MF said.

[Neuro]

The inventors said the table is best suited for a room that has a fluctuating temperature, for example a meeting room that can hold up to 15 people.
While it is hot during meetings the table could store excess heat from the bodies in the room, and release it back when the room is empty.

Fantastic! It heats up empty meeting rooms...

[Neuro]

I doubt very much that the wax can absorb and release enough heat to reduce heating bills by the 60% that they claim. A quick google search tells me that wax has a specific heat of 3.43, while water has a specific heat of 4.18, which means that regular old water absorbs and releases more heat as its temperature rises and falls. I bet if they made the same table and filled the channels with water, it would do a better job of regulating temperature than the wax filled counterpart.

Water has the highest specific heat of any common substance, which is why it's so good at putting out fires. It absorbs tons of heat as its temp rises.
Indeed, but when you put wax in it instead of water you can sell the table for $6,999 instead of $299. For certain the market for this table is enormous, as government offices will get grants to making their rooms climate smart, and the more they spend on doing this the better they are. I think a more realistic saving in heating and air conditioning is 0.6%, and a table like this could easily pay itself off in less than 2000 years. Unless the caretaker puts the thermostat at 23°C when there isn't a meeting, and the air condition is put on during the meeting to keep it at a comfortable 21°C in which case this table solution would end up consuming more than without it, and I have no doubt this is how it will work in reality!

Public officials buying this should be tied up on the table for lengthy water boarding...

[Glass]

so they took some wall paneling and laid it down on its face. Put a couple trestles under it and voila. very clever.