Enerdrape geothermal panel technology under test in a garage in Lausanne
EPFL homepage features Enerdrape in an article than relates the spin-off recent and future developments as well as its pilot installation in Lausanne.
« Using heat from underground parking lots to warm apartments, that is what EPFL spin-off Enerdrape is currently testing in Lausanne, the spin off has developed technology that can recover heat from underground parking lots and use it to warm the apartments above. Its geothermal wall panels are currently undergoing pilot tests at a building in Lausanne’s Sébeillon district. »
Enerdrape panels are currently being pilot-tested at a parking lot in Lausanne’s Sébeillon district, where they should be able to supply up to a third of the energy needed to heat the 60-odd apartments in the building above.
Enerdrape’s system is designed to make maximum use of underground walls and exploit a natural, sustainable resource in places where it would otherwise go untapped. It consists of ten blue-and-white panels measuring 1.3m x 0.7m and made of a metal no thicker than a painter’s canvas. Each panel functions as a heat exchanger that captures both geothermal and ambient energy. A heat pump then circulates this energy throughout the building above, providing a constant supply all year long.
With their stylish design, the panels give the dreary parking lot walls a facelift. But that’s obviously not the reason why Alberto Simonato, director at Realstone – the company that owns the Lausanne parking lot – agreed to test out Enerdrape’s technology. Realstone also supported Enerdrape in its application for a BRIDGE Proof of Concept grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation and Innosuisse.
If enerdrape’s panels prove to be as effective as we expect, we could install then on the soil-abutting walls of a 275-place parking lot, or in some of our other buildings.
