Blue Planet: A Hungarian company saves energy with a solution known from space exploration

János Áder recalled that Rita Farkas and Zoltán Andrássy began working on the development of a new method of thermal energy storage a decade and a half ago at the Budapest University of Technology. Their goal was to replace water with other materials in energy storage, and in the process they began experimenting with phase-change materials.

József Kakas said that the two experts used a solution known from space exploration, optimized heat storage in the walls of space stations. The essence of the method is phase change, i.e. a change in state of matter when the material absorbs more energy. Thousands of materials were examined from this perspective at the technical university, and from these, a hundred were selected that can store heat energy from minus 130 degrees to plus 120. As a result of a decade of research, the physical process has been “enclosed in a box” and put to use for cooling and heating buildings.

The managing director of HeatVentors Kft. said: the system works similarly to an ice pack, it is mostly stationary, but can also be transported if necessary. For example, the heat energy that becomes unnecessary from a factory can be sent to a kindergarten, where this transferred energy can replace gas heating. The company already operates its product in 7 states: Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Oman, Singapore, but most of their users are in Hungary.

János Áder noted that as a result of the IT revolution, many data centers have been established, which have enormous energy needs.

József Kakas said that the energy consumption of a 10-megawatt data center is as high as that of a settlement with 25,000 people, and more and more of them are being built. Most of the energy goes to operating and cooling the servers in the data centers. HeatVentors Kft.’s systems reduce the energy spent on cooling and are able to store waste heat, feed it back and use it elsewhere. This indirectly reduces carbon dioxide emissions by reducing electrical energy consumption by 20-25 percent. The energy loss of the storage system is 2 percent per day.

József Kakas said that the company had a capital increase of 4 million euros (1.51 billion forints) last year, with the participation of Hungarian and foreign investors. This capital injection could lead to the construction of a large international company, mainly with solutions that reduce energy consumption related to data centers. According to EU rules, the energy consumption of data centers must be measured and reduced, and HeatVentors Kft. can help with this. This company is developing the market for phase-change thermal energy storage in several countries under various climatic conditions. In Oman, the company’s product often operates at temperatures around 50 degrees during the day in a high-end hotel.

János Áder recalled that, according to an article, the systems manufactured by the company could save 20 billion euros (7,572 billion forints) and 250 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in Europe.

József Kakas said that they will also be presenting themselves at the Planet Budapest 2026 sustainability expo from February 25th.