Two Frenchmen, engineer Raphaël Ménard and designer Jean-Sébastien Lagrange, have developed a table capable of continuously regulating a room’s temperature while expending zero energy whatsoever.
Their so-called Zero Energy tables, also known as ZEF Climatic Tables, work as thermal sponges that literally absorb warm air to cool down a room, then release the air in order to warm it back up.
Through this process, a Zero Energy table can continuously regulate a room’s temperature while using, you guessed it… ZERO ENERGY!
How It Works:
Anodized aluminum folds with a wax-like phase-changing material are pertinent to the table working correctly, according to Ménard and Lagrange.
While the beautiful oak tabletop will certainly catch your eye, everything going on under it is what helps both cool down and warm up a room.
Once a room temperature hits about 71 degrees, the wax begins to absorb heat and gradually melt. On the other hand, as the room cools, the wax hardens, releasing the warm air.
The aluminum folds have a specific job which is to support the wax to better facilitate the heat exchange.
“The idea of our collaboration started with the purpose of addressing energy efficiency issues of a building at furniture scale, rather than traditional refurbishment solutions – it could be easier, cheaper, and more scalable,” Ménard and Lagrange say.
For the best results, the designers say a Zero Energy table should be placed in a room that experiences large temperature swings on a daily basis.
In the optimal environment, Ménard and Lagrange claim the table can help offset 60% of the heating energy that would normally be used, in addition to 30% of the energy used for air conditioning.]
