Three installer-heroes faced the ice of Greenland to bring arctic scientists the comfort of a heated base. This is the Ariston comfort challenge — a true epic feat turned into a web series. Available from 17 September.
Forget the Avengers. The real heroes of today are those who commit to combating the greatest threat of the 21st century: climate change. They are arctic scientists who, every day, amid countless difficulties, study glaciers in truly extreme conditions. But they are also ordinary people who, in order to support these heroes, accomplish genuine epic feats. William Randaccio, Yuanshuo "Andy" Huanh and Oleg Belyy know this well — the three Ariston installers selected from among the best in the world to become the protagonists of the Ariston comfort challenge. The three faced a peril-laden adventure among the ice of the far north, with the aim of building for researchers from the University of Copenhagen a sustainable home, heated by an efficient, low-energy-impact technology, in one of the most inhospitable places on the planet, yet also one of the most scientifically important: Disko Island in Greenland. Their story, fully documented by a photographer experienced in arctic environments, Paolo Verzone, and by a film crew, has been turned into a gripping and compelling six-episode web series available on the website www.aristoncomfortchallenge.com from 17 September.
"The underlying idea of this endeavour was to bring comfort to those who voluntarily give it up for the good of others and of the Planet," explains Massimiliano Fugini, Brand Corporate Marketing Manager of the Ariston Thermo group and project director. "The researchers who study climate change have almost no funding and face truly extreme situations — what they do is more than a job, it is a genuine vocation. With this project we were able to give concrete help to these extraordinary people and at the same time test our technology under unimaginable conditions."
It took several months to identify the "right" team to support, during which Ariston contacted a number of research centres. The choice ultimately fell on the group of scientists from the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management at the University of Copenhagen, led by Professor Morten Rasch. The team needed a permanent base for their analyses on Disko Island: here, in winter, temperatures range between -20 and -40 degrees centigrade, making prolonged research virtually impossible to carry out. The challenge to be met was therefore to provide the scientists with a structure that combined thermal comfort with environmental sustainability — given that Greenland is entirely a nature reserve and that the Disko Bay area is a Unesco World Heritage Site — and that would become a suitable base from which to conduct climate studies over an extended period.
Before identifying the three installer-heroes who would physically transport the components, assemble and test the arctic base and its system, the design of the house — the Ariston comfort zone — had to be defined. "We looked for the companies that today, around the world, build houses with the smallest environmental footprint in extreme environments," Fugini continues. "An Italian company immediately caught our eye: LeapFactory, based in Turin, which produces perfectly eco-sustainable, well-insulated modular homes. They are the latest development in terms of technology for survival in cold environments. So we turned to them and, with Professor Rasch also involved, we worked out the project together down to the finest detail, in order to integrate our best boiler in terms of energy efficiency and design — the Alteas One — into the modular home."
The preparatory work lasted 18 months. The arctic base — a 58 sq m module shaped like the Ariston logo — was built and pre-assembled in Italy, then dismantled, packed into large crates and shipped almost entirely by road and icebreaker ship to Disko Island. Who would take on the task of reassembling everything?
The search for the three installers who would embark on a long and arduous journey and sacrifice their own comfort to assemble the Ariston comfort zone lasted around four months. The choice then fell on William Randaccio, Italian, aged 43, Yuanshuo "Andy" Huanh, Chinese, aged 32, and Oleg Belyy, Russian, aged 28. Setting off in March 2018 from Copenhagen together with a team of around thirty people, they ventured out with part of the materials on a helicopter, a snowcat and an icebreaker, braving blizzards and technical difficulties in order finally to reach their destination, reassemble the modular scientific base on the Disko Island glacier, and at last install the Alteas One boiler.
"The scenery was breathtaking, but the working conditions were truly difficult," Fugini continues. "A storm could break at any moment. We also had scheduled times for filming: after a short while we had to head back. We were very well equipped — with arctic suits, gloves and boots — but it was still extremely hard going." The feat would not have been possible without the Inuit who inhabit Disko Island and who helped the team with transport and with setting up the site. "Ilulissat, a town in Greenland where icebergs are born, overlooking Disko Bay, is a Unesco World Heritage Site: to set up a construction site in that area there are very strict rules to follow. You have to bring the rods to build the foundations; everything must comply with environmental regulations. The help of the local people was absolutely vital."
The scientific base, donated to the researchers in April, is already operational. "For the Alteas One boiler it was an extremely important test." For the time being, the system is connected only via a mobile phone hotspot, but once wi-fi is installed at the base it will also be possible to carry out continuous remote monitoring, with remote diagnostics to intervene predictively and offer advice to the researchers who are using it.
The story of the Ariston comfort challenge is not only compelling for its meaning — providing concrete help and an additional opportunity for the scientists studying climate change — but also for the future of Made in Italy. The Ariston Thermo group was founded in the 1930s in Italy, in the Marche region; it has become an international brand active in 150 countries that nonetheless produces the majority of its products — and its know-how — here. And even though the casting process for choosing the three heroes was global, chance would have it that one of the three best installers in the world is Italian; that the modular home technology is Italian; as is the technology and design of the Alteas One.
This is a story that, if you will, also represents a hope for the inhabitants and companies of a country — ours — all too accustomed to not believing in its own potential.
Yet when that potential does emerge, it is capable of achieving truly epic feats.
Just like this one.