UK lab promises air-con revolution without polluting gases
LONDON
Founder of Barocal Professor Xavier Moya with prototype cooling technology, at their headquarters in Cambridge, on May 9, 2025.
The soft, waxy "solid refrigerant" being investigated in a U.K. laboratory may not look very exciting, but its unusual properties promise an air-conditioning revolution that could eliminate the need for greenhouse gases.
"They don't contribute to global warming, but also they are potentially more energy efficient," Xavier Moya, a professor of materials physics at the University of Cambridge, told AFP.
Approximately two billion air-conditioner units are in use worldwide, and their number is increasing as the planet warms.
Between leaks and energy consumption, the emissions associated with them are also increasing each year, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Moya has been studying the properties of these plastic crystals in his laboratory for 15 years.
On his work surface tests how the temperature of a substance changes under pressure.
The aim is to identify the best refrigerants among this class of materials.
When the substance is squeezed, the energy is dissipated in the form of heat. When released, the substance cools its surroundings in what is known as the "barocaloric effect."
"We're expecting demand for air conditioning to increase hugely, globally, between now and 2050," Cliff Elwell, a professor of building physics at University College London, told AFP.
He believes barocaloric solids have the potential to be as efficient as gas, if not more so.
Moya founded the startup Barocal in 2019 to turn his research group's discoveries into tangible products.
The startup is attracting interest and in recent years has raised around 4 million euros ($4.5 million), notably from the European Innovation Council and Breakthrough Energy, an umbrella group of initiatives founded by Bill Gates to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
