Compressor-Free Refrigerator On the Way

Iddo Genuth writes "Scientists from Penn State University are designing the future of refrigerators and other cooling devices through magnetic field refrigeration. The investigation pertaining to electrically induced heat effects of some ferroelectric polymers might one day replace electrically powered refrigerators and their compressors and coils. The researchers are focusing on ferroelectric polymers that exhibit temperature changes at room temperature under an electrical field. The same technology might also find its way into computers and other devices in the future, making them run cooler without complex cooling mechanisms."

Comments

How energy efficient is this?

[mlts]

Yes, there are other ways to cool without a compressor, but they are in a lot of cases nowhere as energy efficient as the tried and true way of compression/evaporation. For example, peltiers can do cooling, but they take a lot more power and produce less temperature differential than the standard methods.