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A new cooling technology freezes food without warming the climate (www.anthropocenemagazine.org)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Imaging if this technology could cool a data centre.

Edit: I was not involved in this project. You are wasting your time asking me questions.

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[–] 16 points 9 months ago (4 children)

The link says 'zero-emissions-cooling'

The article sez: "It relies on the temperature change of materials called shape memory alloys (SMAs) when they are stretched and released."

How do you stretch something without producing any emissions?

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  • [–] 13 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    I thought the same thing.

    Seems they are mainly saying they developed cooling method that doesn't rely on a greenhouse gas for a refrigerant. Not nothing.

    ...and if you stretch and release something off solar/wind power greenhouse emissions will be very low indeed.

    I'm curious about lifespan of these systems. I don't know much about SMAs, but my intuition says they degrade. Am I wrong? I hope I am :)

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (2 children)

    They are not new technology the idea has been around since at least the 1980s. There is a reason we don't use them and it's because they are mechanically complicated and inefficient. Those in terms of power use and maintenance requirements.

    However with the move to renewable energy maybe that efficiency limitation isn't as much of a problem as it used to be. Especially if it means you can get away from toxic compounds.

    Although I have never seen a commercial grade implementation of the technology. It's always just been demos that don't really achieve enough cooling to be anything other than a curiosity.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    They are not new technology the idea has been around since at least the 1980s. There is a reason we don’t use them and it’s because they are mechanically complicated and inefficient

    Not trying to completely throw away your comment here, but I saw this exact same comment repeated ad nauseum about electric cars 15 years ago.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    It took about a century to get decent electric cars so I stand by my statement. It may no longer be true in the 22nd century, but there are fundamental issues with this technology that have not been addressed. I can't imagine where likely to see solutions anytime soon, mostly because I don't think there are solutions, I just don't think the technology works.

    Pressure change refrigeration is just so much more efficient. The light on your refrigerator consumes more energy than the refrigeration process, so it's not like there's even a massive impetus to make the system even more efficient because it barely uses energy as it is.

    Where this technology might come in handy is where size is a severely limiting factor. Such as on satellites or small drones.

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