Air conditioning was invented 100 years ago, and now it is obvious that it is not the best way to cool an environment, since it is not environmentally friendly at all.
It is time to change technology, to find new options that allow us not to heat the planet while we cool our houses, and for this the Global Cooling Prize was born.
This is a contest that will distribute 3 million dollars, with 1 million for the winner. There are already several finalists who aim to offer a solution to the huge increase in this type of device that we see in developing countries, where demand is expected to triple in a few years.
The Global Cooling Prize will announce its winner next month, and there is one participant who is drawing a lot of attention. This is Transaera, a startup that is using a class of advanced materials to create an air conditioner with greater energy efficiency.
In this MIT article they explain it in detail. They use a class of highly porous materials called organic metal frames, or MOFs, that passively draw moisture out of the air while the machine runs. Currently the process of removing moisture from the air consumes about half the electricity used by traditional air conditioners, and this is where they plan to optimize the process.
MOFs open up many possibilities for all kinds of revolutionary devices, not only in air conditioning, but also in water harvesting, energy storage, and supercapacitors, so it seems that we will hear quite a bit about these types of materials in the future. future.
