{"id":579369,"date":"2023-06-20T09:00:27","date_gmt":"2023-06-20T06:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/crystals-jets-and-magnets-is-this-how-to-make-cooling-greener\/"},"modified":"2023-06-20T09:00:27","modified_gmt":"2023-06-20T06:00:27","slug":"crystals-jets-and-magnets-is-this-how-to-make-cooling-greener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/crystals-jets-and-magnets-is-this-how-to-make-cooling-greener\/","title":{"rendered":"#Crystals, jets and magnets \u2014 is this how to make cooling greener?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a357b06ca471\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a357b06ca471\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/crystals-jets-and-magnets-is-this-how-to-make-cooling-greener\/#No_fluids_no_leaks\" >No fluids, no leaks<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/crystals-jets-and-magnets-is-this-how-to-make-cooling-greener\/#%E2%80%98Mini_tornado\" >\u2018Mini tornado\u2019<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/crystals-jets-and-magnets-is-this-how-to-make-cooling-greener\/#The_quest_for_efficiency\" >The quest for efficiency<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image?fit=796%2C417&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn0.tnwcdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2023%2F06%2FLinneachka_an_image_that_represents_how_environmentally_friendl_8690a5ea-9e2b-4309-bca8-7fa9510494f2-e1686748442943.jpg&amp;signature=31824c6aa83411d19bcd544b4cbd172c\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-main-content\">\n                            <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a world scorched by climate change, cooling <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> is far from a luxury.<\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2022\/01\/16\/climate-change-air-conditioning-heat-waves\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It saves lives<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, keeps food fresh and ensures comfort at home or in the office. Ten new air conditioners are to be sold every second between now and 2050,<\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iea.org\/news\/air-conditioning-use-emerges-as-one-of-the-key-drivers-of-global-electricity-demand-growth\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">according to the International Energy Agency<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But all those machines, running for hours on end, gobble up vast quantities of electricity. These devices also tend to contain refrigerant gases that are many thousands of times more damaging in terms of global warming potential than CO2. The gases<\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/support.accuvio.com\/support\/solutions\/articles\/4000040366-annual-leakage-rate-for-the-refrigeration-air-con-hvac-\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">gradually leak<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, including after old air conditioning units or fridges are thrown away.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ironically, then, cooling ourselves down to survive the climate crisis could actually make the problem far worse. That\u2019s why there are multiple startups in Europe, as well as around the world, investigating new technologies that could make cooling much more efficient than it is today. And they are coming up with some unusual ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"No_fluids_no_leaks\"><\/span><b>No fluids, no leaks<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At a lab in Cambridge, Xavier Moya, co-founder of Barocal, has a prototype machine that <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>lies pressure to plastic crystals \u2013 lattices of organic molecules. This produces a strong cooling effect, dropping temperatures by, say, 20\u02daC or 30\u02daC.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe are not using a gas, so it\u2019s not going to leak,\u201d says Moya. Barocal currently has six employees and has raised \u00a31.5 million in funding.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The technology relies on the fact that molecules in the solid refrigerant are naturally spinning but when pressure is applied, they stop. \u201cWhen you remove pressure, the molecules want to rotate again and they need to absorb energy \u2013 this is why they cool down,\u201d says Moya. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He adds that the process is a little bit like what happens inside liquid crystal displays. Such displays contain molecules that<\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/electronics.howstuffworks.com\/lcd.htm\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">change their orientation when an electric field is applied<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, so you can see numbers appear on your calculator screen, for example.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Barocal\u2019s solid refrigerant could be used inside air conditioners or fridges, and on either a domestic or commercial scale, Moya says. He claims the system will be extremely efficient. In cooling and heating systems, one kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity is often used to produce multiple kilowatt hours of thermal energy \u2013 known as the coefficient of performance (COP). Modern heat pumps, for instance, might get you a COP of 3 at home, which means 3 kWh of heat resulting from every kWh of electricity consumed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe are expecting efficiencies that are twice or more,\u201d says Moya, though he adds that his firm is still years away from releasing a commercial product.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another startup that aims to do away with refrigerant fluids is Dynamic Air Cooling, in Poland. The firm employs 13 people and has raised \u20ac3.5 million in funding, \u20ac2.3 million of which has been in the form of grants.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%98Mini_tornado\"><\/span><b>\u2018Mini tornado\u2019<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Co-founder and chief executive Pavel Panasjuk says his team came up with the idea more or less by accident when experimenting with the same technology used in jet engines.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe created a process which is very similar to a mini tornado,\u201d he says. It\u2019s the twisting and spinning of the air that achieves a cooling effect since it converts thermal energy in the air to kinetic energy instead, he explains. The system can reliably push temperatures down by about 45\u02daC and in experiments this has worked from starting points ranging from 0\u02daC to 35\u02daC or so, adds Panasjuk.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One tricky aspect is that, currently, there\u2019s no finalised method of determining a specific output temperature, so the team is working on a control unit to do that. \u201cThere is a solution,\u201d hints Panasjuk, who adds that the system should achieve a COP of around 4.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If all engineering challenges are dealt with, he adds that Dynamic Air Cooling hopes to have a commercial product ready in as little as one year from today. The firm is targeting industrial refrigeration for food storage and transport.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Magnotherm, in Germany, is also determined to make fridges greener but with a totally different kind of technology. Timur Sirman, co-founder and managing director, explains that his startup\u2019s device relies on rotating magnets. Imagine two of them, like burger buns, above and below the \u201cburger\u201d, which in this case is a special iron alloy full of pores, through which water may be pumped. The magnetic field created by the rotating magnets has the effect of cooling the metal alloy, and therefore any water that passes across it.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_quest_for_efficiency\"><\/span><b>The quest for efficiency<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The company, which has 32 members of staff and has raised \u20ac6.3 million to date, already has a small commercial product \u2013 a fridge that it rents out to event organisers. The fridge, dubbed Polaris, can hold between 100 and 200 drinks, says Sirman, but only has a COP of 1, which isn\u2019t very efficient. However, this can be solved by making a bigger fridge, he adds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe cooling power scales linearly with the amount of material that you put inside,\u201d says Sirman. So with the same motors and water pump, but more of the porous iron alloy, the team hopes to achieve more cooling and a COP of up to 5 in 2024. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In principle, the same technology could be used in an air conditioning system, though that is not Magnotherm\u2019s focus at present. The hope is that their system will be used in commercial fridges, in a modular unit that can be taken out and placed into a new fridge whenever the customer, for instance a supermarket, decides to update their hardware.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s \u201cfantastic\u201d to see so many innovations in the field of cooling, says Nicole Miranda, a researcher on the Future of Cooling Programme at the Oxford Martin School, part of the University of Oxford. She emphasises that, in the coming years, passive cooling techniques \u2013 from textiles that keep our bodies cool to increased shade in city centres \u2013 will be just as important as technologies that require electricity to work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the demand for air conditioners and fridges really will be huge across the world, she adds, so it\u2019s important to develop sustainable systems now that will not guzzle excessive amounts of energy, or be constructed from materials that have a high carbon footprint.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consider also the many homes around Europe that were <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/europe-climate-change-global-warming-heat-wave-adaptation\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">never designed to keep out excessive summer heat<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. And it\u2019s not yet clear that the energy systems in such countries will be able to cope with booming demand for cooling tech in the coming years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s an easy solution to just go to a shop and get an air conditioner,\u201d says Miranda. \u201cThat\u2019s a huge risk for those places\u2019 electrical networks.\u201d<\/span>\n                        <\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/crystals-jets-and-magnets-make-cooling-greener\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a world scorched by climate change, cooling technology is far from a luxury. It saves lives, keeps food fresh and ensures comfort at home or in the office. Ten new air conditioners are to be sold every second between now and 2050, according to the International Energy Agency. But all those machines, running for&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":579370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/tnw-blurple?filter_last=1&fit=1280,640&url=https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2023\/06\/Linneachka_an_image_that_represents_how_environmentally_friendl_8690a5ea-9e2b-4309-bca8-7fa9510494f2-e1686748442943.jpg&signature=4017f4dc39ff48ac70c0ac590f9da7b5","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-579369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}