The catch is whether they can match the efficiency of conventional AC. “One of the key questions that remain is why are the solid-state coolers not as efficient as typical thermodynamic cycles?” says Pramod Reddy, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan who studies heat transfer.
Research and pilot programs are underway to test a range of approaches. Brooklyn-based Mimic Systems uses thermoelectric cooling, which passes a current through semiconductive materials to shift heat from one side to another. Its room-scale climate control system is being piloted in an apartment in Vancouver.
The German company Magnotherm is set to test its system, which relies on a magnetocaloric setup that transfers heat by magnetizing and demagnetizing materials, in a chain of supermarkets. A team in Hong Kong has announced that its elastocaloric device, whose material heats and cools as it expands and contracts, can dip below 0 °C. And the UK’s Barocal is betting on barocaloric systems, which change temperature in response to shifts in pressure.
But experts, especially in thermoelectrics, have doubts about how well any solid-state scheme can compete. For most modern HVAC systems, the coefficient of performance (COP) is 3, explains Jeff Snyder, a professor at Northwestern University who studies electrical and thermal conductivity. That essentially means the system moves three units of heat for every unit of energy that goes into it.
Thermoelectrics in particular tend to have a much lower performance at high levels of temperature change, Snyder says, which means they’re best suited for niche uses such as cooling the back of a car seat.
Mimic’s room-scale thermoelectric HVAC unit is being tested in a Vancouver apartment.
COURTESY OF MIMIC SYSTEMS, INC
Efficiency, however, isn’t everything, argues Lindsay Rasmussen, a manager at the Rocky Mountain Institute’s climate tech accelerator Third Derivative, which supports both Magnotherm and Mimic. In the US, most ACs currently in use employ a refrigerant called R410A, which has a global-warming potential more than 2,000 times that of carbon dioxide. Plus, their moving parts can make them less durable, especially compared with a solid-state model that’s less mechanically complex.
