Japan-inspired 'water-house' slashes energy needs

[M II A II R II K]

Japan-inspired 'water-house' slashes energy needs


Feb 09, 2015

By Peter Murphy

Read More: http://phys.org/news/2015-02-japan-i...es-energy.html

As UN climate negotiators gather in Geneva this week, one Japan-inspired Hungarian inventor believes he has found a revolutionary and inexpensive way to construct buildings that could slash humanity's energy needs. And the magic ingredient for Matyas Gutai's invention is simple: water.

- The walls of Gutai's house are made of glass panels—with a gap in between like double glazing—filled with water. This water, only a few cubic metres, is warmed by the sun—it can be piping hot during heat waves. It absorbs heat like a battery during hot spells and distributes it during cold snaps, making all cosy in winter or cool in summer, as needed. An inbuilt monitoring system allows the user to set the desired indoor temperature, with the heat stored in the water transferred around as needed.

- Excess heat in the water during hot periods is stored in a tank in the foundations to be sent back into the walls later when it gets colder. The system reduces the need for external energy sources for heating, Gutai said, meaning that the building can be more independent from the local grid—so not responsible for any carbon emissions. --- "In no other structure are you completely surrounded by connected volumes of water which, using its natural properties, and via a process called 'convective heat transfer', is able to move energy around to where it's needed," Gutai told AFP. --- "It absorbs, stores, heats, cools, and balances indoor temperatures."

- It dawned on him how much more important surface temperature and heated mass are than air temperature. --- "Air temperature like a cold breeze in summer, or the hot air of a fire in winter, is important but mass like in a pool is a completely different quality," he explained. --- It was a time when many Japanese architects were beginning to explore ideas of low-energy consumption, particularly after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

- And the final jigsaw piece was another Japanese tradition: the martial art of Aikido and its concept of victory through non-resistance. --- "You use the strength of your opponent's attack to your own advantage, you make your opponent fall down by flowing away from strength rather than blocking it," Gutai said. --- "So I looked more and more at water, which doesn't resist but instead responds, in a smart way.

.....

[BIMBAM]

I guess it could work in a climate where you could guarantee there would never be a cold spell intense enough to freeze the water and make it expand. But in such climates, wouldn't more rigourous cooling solutions usually be needed, and wouldn't there be less need to warm during cold spells? Perhaps this could work in a narrow range of temperate coastal climates.