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Utah Teens Invent Better Air Conditioner
Carl Youngblood writes "Two recent Utah high school graduates won the first-ever Ricoh Sustainable Development Award for inventing a better car air conditioner based on the Peltier effect. The peltier chips used in the device are more energy-efficient, last between 20 and 30 years, are solid-state, and don't harm the environment with ozone-depleting freon like today's car air conditioners."
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Last I check, most cars have R-134a, or have been retrofitted to run it. No one uses ozone depleting CFC refrigerants anymore (at least in the US).
Here's the Google cache...
(Don't need karma points, so don't waste them here.)
Heck almost half of the power loss from an A/C system happens whether you use it or not, the belt's already going over the compressors feed wheel.
this again is false. The compressor belt certainly turns, but it is not engaged. The pully spins freely with hardly any resistance. Try this as an experiment. Turn off your AC, get driving on a straight stretch of road with no traffic (for your own safety) get to a constant speed (even set the cruise if you have it). Then turn on the AC. You will hear and feel (and see if you have a tachometer) a sudden dip in the power output of your engine. AC Compressors take a large amount of horsepower away from the engine. This has been my experience with many different cars over a number of years. I currently drive a 2004 car so I would have to say its AC system and engine are fairly "modern".
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I take no responsibility for any spelling mistakes in the above post.
Obviously you don't watch MythBusters(TM). They debunked the idea that you use as much if not more fuel driving with the windows down than you would with the AC on. The fact is the AC chews more gas.