Smart Energy Saving Window Wins Finnish Innovation Award

Skaala Alfa cLean was the winner of the Finnish residential market innovation competition in January 2016. The product is an energy-efficient window with an integrated ventilation unit that can be controlled via a mobile device.

There are over two million housing units in Finland with poor ventilation and no heat recovery. Skaala Alfa cLean is especially suitable as a replacement window in renovations. It improves indoor air quality, saves energy, and offers personalized ventilation control. The solution also saves space since it does not require any ducts to be installed.

According to the manufacturer, Skaala Oy, “Skaala Alfa cLean is suitable for a single apartment or an entire building. The windows in an apartment communicate with each other wirelessly or by a wired network. Because the system constantly optimizes the indoor air in the apartment, it does not have to be separately adjusted. The automatic ventilation adjusts the indoor air to the desired state based on humidity and carbon dioxide level.

You also have the option to control the ventilation by room or apartment. The settings can be adjusted with a control panel located inside each window or with a mobile application. The software provides real time information about the indoor air quality. When there are no people in the apartment you can set the system to Away mode.”

A smart and energy-efficient window is an investment that will pay back through lower energy consumption over the years. This is especially true in Finland where winters are long and quite cold. There are similar integrated windows on the market in other countries, but they are designed for a milder climate.

The development of Skaala Alfa cLean is a perfect example of cross-disciplinary collaboration. It involved a university, research institutes, and SMEs. The project got funding from Tekes – the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation. The development director of Skaala, Jyrki Jaskari, said in an interview that, “A traditional window and door manufacturer has to enter a new territory. It is a giant leap when you add devices and electronics to a window. We needed expertise on e.g. ICT and ventilation.”

Here’s a short video with the CEO of Skaala, Jari Punkari, introducing Skaala Alfa cLean. The video has an English voice-over. We’ve added the subtitles.

Skaala Alfa cLean from Aarni Heiskanen on Vimeo.