Thermoelectric cooling is notable for not having any moving parts and ability to scale down to small sizes, so it might end up having many specialized applications, but for A/C heat pumps are already very effective.
"better" "cheaper" "cleaner" is buried by political spite agendas
Thermoelectric cooling is extremely inefficient, to the point that we have very little practical use for it right now. Heat pumps a hundred times more effective predominate.
Aren't there theoretical limits to this sort of cooling too?
But, if this innovation causes Technology Connections to make yet another heat pumps video, I'm all for it.
Solar panels used to be horrible at efficiency. Now they’re pretty amazing and extremely competitive in the power generation market. It, similarly, took a few decades of these kinds of efficiency improvements to get there.
Since these devices can also produce power given a heat differential, they are used in spaces where you need just a little power and heat is readily available.
westurner•1h ago
> Abstract: Refrigeration needs are increasing worldwide with a demand for alternates to bulky poorly scalable vapor compression systems. Here, we demonstrate the first proof of practical solid-state refrigeration, using nano-engineered controlled hierarchically engineered superlattice thin-film thermoelectric materials. [...] The improved efficiency and ultra-low thermoelectric materials usage herald a new beginning in solid-state refrigeration.