In 2019, the Cheboksary company Teplorium will build an energy efficient glass innovative hub for Expo 2020 Dubai. As Teplorium owner and CEO Anatoly Fyodorov told Invest Foresight, the company from Chuvashia won the project due to the unique properties of the glass units it developed.
Energy efficient glazing
Teplorium was established in 2015 in Cheboksary, Chuvashia, by Anatoly Fyodorov, former employee of the Regional Ministry for the Economy, who is now its sole owner and general director. The company runs a production facility for super-energy-efficient glazing in Cheboksary. It is not the glass formula proper that is innovative – glass is purchased from the British company Pilkingtone. The innovation is in how glass is used. Teplorium engineers have built a glass unit from two double-panes with an airtight chamber in between. In summer, such glass units help cool the air inside the building, and make it warmer in winter, working like a solar collector or a greenhouse. The coating on the glass can be selected depending on the region’s climate. For example, where there is a lot of sunshine, they use silver-coated glass. In addition, these glazed units are noise proof. Teplorium has patented the technology.
The innovative glazed units are 60-80% more expensive than ordinary glass, but they help save on engineering equipment (a less powerful boiler for heating the house, fewer radiators, no need for air conditioning) and electricity consumption. Overall, the cost of the building is not higher than with ordinary glazing.
To date, the company has glazed about 8,000 sq m of property, mostly apartments, houses, an interior garden, the Flower Pavilion in Novocheboksarsk, and an office and shopping center in Cheboksary. A large private clinic from Moscow has ordered two collapsible glass buildings for its medical centers from Teplorium. They will be erected in the winter of 2019. Teplorium can also make curved double-glazed windows, there is almost no demand for them but in Russia.
“Amazon built a glass spherical office for $6 billion. I would have made it better and 90% cheaper,” Anatoly Fyodorov says.
Innovative hub for Dubai
In November 2017, Teplorium brought a model of its glass dismountable building to The BIG 5 Show, the largest construction technology fair in the Middle East. Dubai city administration was so thrilled that they offered the company to build a Russian innovation hub for the World Expo in Dubai in 2020. Dubai authorities have already offered a 400 sq m plot of land near Al Maktoum International Airport in the Free Zone Dubai South Business Park. The land was designated for a two-year free lease. Dubai will also connect the building to all utilities and services, build an access road and parking space. During the 2020 world exhibition, Russian innovative companies – mainly Skolkovo Innovation Center residents – will demonstrate their technological achievements at the hub. The building for Dubai will be assembled within just a week. It will be almost completely made of glass, a more translucent one than it is customable to use in the Middle East, which will save 70% of electricity.
The structure will also be autonomous in terms of power supply. Teplorium will install rooftop solar panels. The building called Teplorium has already been patented. The 200 sq m, several-million-ruble structure will belong to Teplorium and will be built with the company’s funds.
Additionally, Dubai suggested that the Russian company build a super energy-efficient glazing plant.
Conquering Germany and USA
The company is now applying to certify its energy-efficient facilities in Germany, which will take about 6-7 months and license Teplorium to build various structures including residential buildings in Germany, around Europe and even in the United States. The company has already received several pre-orders from German and US developers, whose names are not disclosed until the launch of the projects. The company also intends to establish its own production facility in the EU to avoid brining construction parts from Russia and reduce the delivery time.
“Germans are very focused on energy efficiency, and our glazing system is tremendously better than what they have in the market,” Anatoly Fyodorov says.
In Germany, one kilowatt-hour costs about RUR 30 ($0.5), which is 5 or 6 times its cost in Russia; Germans are interested in saving on electricity and reducing hydrocarbon emissions. In the United States, particularly in the southern states, households also spend a lot on air conditioning, which accounts for 6% of all national energy consumption; they would be happy to reduce these expenses and use less energy overall.
By Natalia Kuznetsova