New Semiconductor Coolers

An anonymous reader writes: "A new thermoelectric material is 2.4X as efficient as best existing materials. The new solid state heat pumps can provide 700 watts of cooling (nearly one horsepower) with just one square centimeter. These new materials have the potential to replace current heat sinks, thermoelectric generators and mechanical heat pumps. You can also read an article in nature."

Comments

They invented... the Peltier?

[nitehawk214]

"The material, devised by Rama Venkatasubramanian and co-workers at the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina, relies on the thermoelectric effect: the generation of an electrical current in two electrically conducting materials that are in contact when one is hotter than the other. Passing an electric current from one conductor to another can make the interface between them hotter or colder, depending on the direction of the current."

How is it different then a peltier?