Posted on 05/22/2015 7:30:55 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Consisting simply of a surface and legs, the table is one piece of furniture that has remained largely the same for thousands of years.
But now, a French design duo has come up with a way to turn the humble table into a means of climate control that doesn't use any electricity.
Paris-based industrial designer Jean-Sébastien Lagrange teamed up with French engineer Raphaël Ménard to create the Zero Energy Furniture table, also known as the ZEF Climatic Table.
The ZEF table looks like any other with the sleek design of a solid plank oak top and angled legs but it could hold the secret to cutting energy costs by as much as 60%.
We wanted to see if it was possible to address climate and energy issues on a furniture scale, Lagrange told WIRED.
Beneath the oak table are a series of phase-changing materials (PCMs) placed between the wood and anodized aluminum bottom....
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
I will only work if the temp at night falls below something like 76 degrees F.
That means I’d have to use an AC to cool the room before it works
My heat pump is worthless when the outside air gets below 45 degrees, in other words, when you start to need heat. It is ridiculous.
I remember the bemusement the first time I saw advertising for electronic furniture.
It works similarly to A BRICK FRIGGIN WALL!
My first thought was to incorporate this into wall structures in rooms to really produce a larger effect.
Except your wall does not change from solid to liquid.
Variation of Coffee Joulies http://www.joulies.com which are of dubious usefulness.
I always wanted one of those electric football games.
My mom said no. I also wanted an Erector set. Again,
I did not get one. So about five years ago I bought two for my son for Christmas. One nice thing about having a son is that I get to buy toys that I always wanted whether he is interested or not.
Does the table come with the two gay guys?
I guess it might work for homes that use AC during the day, and heating at night, but I don’t know of too many. Another option for extremely varying daily weather cycles might be to keep the windows shut and insulate more.
In any case, PCMs have been around for a fairly long time. Water is one. The difference here is the temperature - instead of 32F, they use 71F. The problem then becomes finding the energy to move the heat around.
And like noted before, just how much heat (or lack thereof) can it really store?
In the age of Obama laws are more like guidelines. Sort of...
There is no such thing as free energy as of today.
They should cover the ceiling with these. This would work where I live. High desert temps swing wildly.
We both broke the code. ;-D
The legs cry for a new design. :)
LOL. Oh yes, when my son came in forth place in the Pinewood derby (in the pack) and first in the den, he was pretty happy. Me, I did the happy dance-it was the first time in 30 years that I won something (my son helped with the car).
Rockets. Think rockets.
It touches my heart that an American child has been inspired and encouraged to invent something useful and marketable and create a company. I love the way his parents are standing behind him. God bless him and his mom and dad.
I believe my son and I did something with rockets too, but under the supervision of a professor of engineering!
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