The study showed energy savings of 15 percent. Calorimetry testing showed slightly greater savings. The vacuum insulation was not responsible for all the savings. However, once the whole design was improved, the vacuum insulation could provide its maximum benefit. This example is an extreme case but we have seen the general conclusions repeated over and over.
Careful design is required to obtain maximum benefit from vacuum insulation.
Another example is the redesign of an insulated shipping container. The original design had exterior dimensions of 22.5 in. Forty-eight pounds of coolant provided 120 hours of endurance. An optimized vacuum insulated container contained the same items being shipped but had exterior dimensions of 13 in. Still another example shows how the detailed design when incorporating vacuum insulation is critical.