The Plus
The picture shows The Plus, the world’s most environmentally friendly furniture factory. This is what happened when Enrad developed a sustainable and energy efficient solution for heating and cooling the factory.
About the project
World’s Most Eco-Friendly Furniture Factory
The Plus is a unique project where modern environmental technology permeates everything. The Norwegian company Vestre built the factory with the vision that all of their products should have an eternal life. It is made possible by bringing used furniture back to the factory, where they are then restored and given a new life. With high environmental targets, the factory needed a cooling and heating solution at the forefront of sustainability and energy efficiency.
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Challenge
A complex need
The cooling and heating demand at The Plus turned out to be very complex, something that required a unique solution. The production of cooling and heating needed to work for the building, as well as for the furniture varnishing process. And they needed to be closely interconnected in a common system. In addition, Vestre’s goal was that The Plus should be the first industrial building in the Nordic region to receive the Breeam Outstanding certification. In order to gain the certification, high demands were placed on everything, from building materials to the method for heating the building. In order to meet the requirements, Vestre sought cooling and heating solutions based on natural refrigerants with low GWP values.
Throughout this time, Enrad has been keen to help us in a very complex environment. We feel very confident that they meet our cooling and heating needs, which means that we can devote our time to what we are good at — building sustainable furniture.
— Lasse Nilsson, head of production at Vestre
Solution
Tightly connected system
As Enrad is one of the leading players in cooling and heating solutions based on natural refrigerants, we were involved in the project. We delivered four cooling and heat pumps to The Plus, which were connected in a common system. The base energy for the heat pumps is taken from 17 geothermal heating boreholes, drilled to a depth of 300 meters. But as a lot of the energy used in the varnishing process can be reused, the geothermal heating is rarely needed.
It must be possible to heat the products to be varnished to 200°C and then cooled down to 40°C, and this process is performed twice per varnishing operation. The process produces a large amount of surplus energy, which is recycled for heating the building.
In case of too much surplus energy, the remaining energy can be put back into the ground and retrieved, as necessary.
Enrad is at the forefront of the development of sustainable heat pump alternatives, as well as flexible in its commitment – in our case through the complex control of the heating system, which is something that we understand is outside Enrad’s normal scope of delivery.
— Lasse Nilsson, head of production at Vestre
Results & Goals
Maximum energy recovery
Temperatures and flows are monitored using the IWMAC monitoring system. This makes it possible to check which valves are open, which are closed, which motors are running, as well as the fan speeds. This ensures maximum energy recycling through the heating and cooling pumps.
As long as the temperature is above 5°C, The Plus is self-sufficient in terms of the energy needed for heating the building. Other factors also come into play, such as having a well-insulated building. But a large part depends on the interconnected cooling and heat pumps for production and in the building. The goal is for The Plus to be fully self-sufficient in terms of renewable energy from solar, wind and hydropower by 2025, regardless of outdoor temperature.
Are you ready to cross the threshold to a climate-neutral society?
Then we’d love to hear from you! It’s natural to have a few questions when replacing something you’re used to with something new. But we’re here to answer all your questions, whether they’re about our products or natural refrigerants in general.
Case / Francks Kylindustri
Grocery store refrigeration
When Francks Kylindustri received an inquiry from the grocery store ICA in Södertälje about a sustainable, natural refrigerant solution for their chillers, they contacted Enrad.
