A recent EPFL spin-off, Enerdrape has developed a technology that makes use of geothermal energy and excess energy from the underground surroundings of buildings for heating or cooling purposes. This patented solution has the advantage of increasing the proportion of renewable energy used by existing and new buildings, bringing down operating costs and considerably reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Enerdrape’s solution is helping the building sector play an active part in the energy transition.
Today, the heating and air conditioning of buildings accounts for 40% of CO2 emissions and up to 80% of their total energy consumption. In Europe, more than 75% of the existing building stock is still using non-renewable energy. Concerned by these worrying figures and keen to improve the carbon footprint of the building sector, since 2019 the team at Enerdrape have been working hard on developing an innovative product capable of making efficient use of geothermal heat sources.
When we asked Margaux Peltier, CEO of the fledgling company, to tell us a bit more about Enerdrape’s solution, she was not short of convincing arguments. “Our panels are easy to install and relatively simple to maintain. They’re tailored to the existing construction and remain consistently effective. They’re also customisable, which means you can integrate them into any kind of architecture and you can also put advertising on them, or another kind of wording, depending on the customer’s needs.” This technology, in the form of a modular panel with a sandwich construction, incorporates a heat exchanger that captures both the geothermal energy and the heat present in the surroundings. The panels draw the heat from the concrete or air and use it to heat the water contained in a closed circuit of pipes which feeds a heat pump.
Very positive initial feedback on this technology
The young Vaud-based company carried out an initial test installation in a car park at the Realstone offices in Lausanne, enabling it to validate the first scaled-up application of the system and see how it performed. “The results were better than we were expecting and we were able to demonstrate that our solution is compatible with most of the existing heat pumps on the market,” adds Margaux Peltier. With very encouraging feedback received, it is likely that Enerdrape will soon be closing new sales deals. A first project with the automotive dealer Amag is slated to begin this summer.
The market targeted by Enerdrape is commercial buildings (offices, shopping centres, etc.) with an underground car park. This is because it is in underground environments that this technology is most effective at capturing geothermal energy and heat. The product is also aimed at businesses operating in the energy sector such as SIG, Romande Energie, Groupe E and ewz ewz and it may also be of interest to developers of energy solutions and engineering firms operating in the HVAC sector.
In recent months Enerdrape has begun working with several direct customers, both corporate clients and private apartment block owners. “Our key customers are energy contractors, system integrators and real estate developers,” says Margaux Peltier. Enerdrape is mainly a B2B operator, working with partners which sell the technology to their end clients. It recently went into partnership with an Italian company capable of producing large volumes of its panels and has ambitions to start mass marketing the product by 2023. It is initially targeting European countries (Switzerland, Germany, France and Italy) and plans to start marketing on the other side of the Atlantic at a later date.
The start-up that everyone is talking about
Winner of the 2021 Startup Champion Seed Night, RENT Switzerland prize for innovation and the Mobility & Urban Sustainability category at the Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge in Paris, Enerdrape has racked up a host of distinctions, greatly increasing its visibility both at home and in Europe. More recently, it won the Prix SUD organised by the newspaper Le Temps, which recognises innovative start-ups working for sustainability. Winner, too, of the Prix Entreprendre Lausanne Region (PERL prize), Enerdrape was also shortlisted for the Vigier Top 10, awarded to innovative start-ups and their figureheads. And that’s not all: Enerdrape also won the Startup Days Pitching Battle and made the top 3 in the Industrials & Engineering category of the famous Venture Prize.
In 2021, the Vaud-based company took part in various international trade fairs, including VivaTech in Paris and the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, raising its profile beyond Switzerland’s borders.
Enerdrape is currently fundraising to finalise the marketing of its product and obtain the necessary certifications, notably CE certification to prove that it meets European standards. The new capital raised will also enable it to expand its team and complete the technology’s industrial production and marketing phases. In the medium term, it would appear that a great future lies ahead for this Lausanne-based company.
