Irish company lands ‘zero energy’ housing contract
Irish company Surface Power Hone and Belgian partner Mopac Systems International have won a contract to build low cost ‘daylight’ fuelled zero energy homes in the €10m first phase of a major German government social housing project.
Surface Power Hone said the two companies have developed the capacity to mass produce homes that are highly energy efficient, cost-effective to build and can be constructed in an average of one day. The partnership will be responsible for the new construction project in Aachen, which, according to Surface Power Hone, should see tenants paying average monthly rents of €620, including utility bills.
Surface Power Hone’s expertise is based on a daylight-fuelled heating nanotechnology that removes the need for a boiler. Its collaboration with Mopac Systems International leverages the latter’s ability to mass produce low-cost zero energy homes.
The two companies now plan to add new manufacturing plants in Europe to meet the growing demand for their technology in the short-term. Surface Power Hone said significant global players such as BASF, Krauss Maffei and Randek AB are also partners in the breakthrough technology, which is the result of a combined 20 years of advanced collaborative research by all the companies involved.
“Our daylight-fuelled heating and cooling systems are the perfect complement to Mopac’s highly insulated building components,” said John Quinn, CEO of Surface Power Hone. “According to a recent report by leading research firm Pike, the zero energy building market is to grow to US$690bn a year by 2020 and will nearly double by 2035 to US$1.3trn a year, with much of the growth occurring in the European Union. We are very confident about the future.”
Earlier this month, Minster for the Environment Alan Kelly announced a €1.5bn social housing plan aimed at reducing the housing waiting lists in Ireland by a quarter.
“The Minister said that it costs approximately €185,000 to build a standard social house in Ireland,” said Quinn. “Our zero energy three-bed family homes can be built for approximately €120,000 per unit and additionally have no boiler or energy bills, whether social or private dwellings.
“Employing our technology would obviously ensure the Government’s allocated money towards its social hosing plan can result in the construction of more units and a better return on investment, not to mention the carbon benefit when compared to traditional heating systems which are responsible for 32pc of emissions.”
Surface Power Hone is a finalist in the Energy & Environment category of the Irish Times/InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards 2015. The winner will be announced at a ceremony on Friday 17 April 2015.
