One third of all energy used in the home goes to heating and cooling. And most of this energy escapes through the roof and every wall. By insulating your home, you know, you can retain more energy, cut utility bills and also contribute to the fight against the climate.
Now that the topic of energy saving has come to the fore (for the worst reasons, unfortunately), an almost forgotten invention, developed by a Hungarian architect, could come in handy.
"Water" insulation
It was the year 2015, and Matyas Gutai he was a young Hungarian architect who invented an interesting solution for construction: a glass wall filled with water as an insulation system for houses. A system that would have largely replaced the heating and cooling activities, not to mention the significant aesthetic effect for a building.
I call him AllWater Panel, and at the time it was described as follows:
“Water is a formidable distributor of heat: it collects and redistributes it quickly, with greater efficiency than conventional materials. Heavy solutions such as brick or concrete offer decent, but not optimal, heat storage capabilities. And what's more, they are also quite expensive. My solution is more effective." Is that so? Let's take a look.
A glass wall
Gutai's solution is the equivalent of installing double glazing for windows, but applied to every wall of the house.
AllWater consists of two glass panels, one of which can also be opaque, 5cm thick. In between, water. End.
The panels are delivered empty, to make them more transportable, and filled with water once placed next to the load-bearing wall (which clearly remains in concrete). The water present in the glass wall is connected to the network: this is why it heats up 'on command', creating a microclimate on all surfaces of the house.
Can it work?
I don't know, and maybe we'll never know. The invention it has never really been commercialized. The Hungarian engineer claims that an AllWater wall allows a saving of about 40% on heating and air conditioning: in case of combination with photovoltaic or geothermal, the system becomes virtually zero cost.
That's not all: the mechanical and thermal resistance of this glass wall would make the solution very suitable for seismic areas, and also very effective against fires.
The idea may seem strange, but it could be perfectly used on facades or roofs that require light and transparency. At the time of his invention he had obtained funding from the European Union of 50.000 euros and was looking for partners to commercialize his solution.
I have no idea why this invention has fallen into oblivion: the system has since been installed in several homes, but has failed to achieve mass distribution. Perhaps it deserves further study.
