Warming up your room using just the walls may seem like an interesting idea, but a new technology developed by The Warming Surfaces Company is aiming for just that. The Finnish firm creates a paper-thin heating film that can fit inside walls and furniture, making it possible to heat the room using energy-efficient methods.
This film has been worked on in various ways over the past two decades. The project, called Halia, came about through research at Finland’s VTT, a state-owned R&D centre, Fast Company reports. But a few years ago, the Finnish military began coming to investigators asking for their support in creating military traps that could heat large areas to deceive attackers.
While the research team was working on this design, they realized that a paper-thin heating film could also be extremely useful for heating homes and offices. And so the firm began to incorporate the film into furniture and interior surface materials. The researchers say the film uses a very low-voltage heating element that can be placed on almost any material, including fabric.
In addition, the company says that because the heater film is spread over such a large area, it can heat an area almost instantly, which is extremely useful for heating rooms when needed. Besides that, they also state that the system can be combined with sensors and enable the system to turn on when someone enters the room, providing comfort very quickly.
“It’s a really quick response,” said Jani-Mikael Kuusisto, the firm’s co-founder, in a conversation with Fast Company. “It’s not instantaneous like lighting, but we’re talking (just) tens of seconds to reach your desired temperature.” This quick response not only helps you save money by eliminating the use of energy to heat rooms you are not in, but also provides even more savings and convenience by using this energy only when you are in the same room.
Over the past few years we’ve seen some really cool breakthroughs in technology, including some breakthroughs in how solar panels are designed, some even working on solar panels that work at night to collect solar energy even when the sun is out. This new heating film stands out as another great advance for technology that could lead to really big improvements in the future.
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