Cooling
-
People camping in tents are expected to "rough it" a bit, but … if they have a battery-powered heating and air conditioning system right beside them, why not use it? That's the thinking behind Campstream One, which mooches off the user's EV.
-
Large fluctuations in outdoor temperatures can shorten the lifespan of the batteries used in electric cars – if those cars are parked outside, that is. An experimental new car-cloak could help minimize such damage, by damping changes in temperature.
-
While it's nice to have ice cubes available for cold drinks on hot outings, bags of store-bought ice often melt too quickly and take up cooler space. The Evo Icer offers an alternative, in the form of a portable battery-powered ice cube maker.
-
Heated insoles generally rely on batteries to warm icy toes. Solecooler has a different idea, getting its power straight from the source: the feet. Its insoles harness basic stepping motions to generate heating and cooling.
-
Heating and cooling systems are among the biggest guzzlers of energy. Berkeley Lab has now developed a new technology that heats and cools by switching a material between solid and liquid states, inducing a large temperature change from a small voltage.
-
Last year, engineers at Purdue University used their expertise in materials science to produce the world’s whitest paint, and have now made some tweaks to the recipe and produced a version that is thinner and lighter.
-
In some of the world's hottest countries, where cooling systems are most needed, the infrastructure required to power such setups is often lacking. A new system could help, as it provides multiple cooling effects but uses no electricity.
-
Quantum computing requires extremely cold temperatures. To that end, IBM has built and demonstrated a huge “super-fridge” codenamed Project Goldeneye that chills things colder than outer space.
-
After the summer so many of us have just sweltered through, we need better ways to cool buildings. Researchers have now spruced up the humble window with hydrogel-glass, which can selectively block heat from the Sun without blocking its light.
-
Gases used as refrigerants in cooling systems can leak into the atmosphere and become major contributors to climate change. Now engineers at Harvard have demonstrated a new prototype cooling device that uses a solid-state material as a refrigerant.
-
Israeli company Green Kinoko is preparing for the first public tests of a remarkable clean outdoor cooling system. The Kinsho system operates like the inverse of an outdoor cafe heater, cooling several tables per unit without using any electricity.
-
A large percentage of a building’s energy usage is consumed by heating and cooling, but a new dynamic shading system could help. Inspired by the skin of krill, the system uses cells of blooming pigment that can block light on demand.
Load More