The Korea Institute of Energy Research has created the country's first air-based refrigeration technology, TechXplore reported.
Instead of traditional coolants such as Freon gas or hydrofluorocarbons, which contribute to planet-overheating air pollution, KIER's new technology relies on something called the "reverse-Brayton cycle," which uses air to compress a gas into a low-temperature gas.
"Due to environmental regulations, refrigeration systems that primarily use refrigerants with a high global warming potential are rapidly transitioning to the use of eco-friendly refrigerants," said Dr. Beom Joon Lee, the lead researcher on the project.
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"We are currently working on improving the system's performance to enable the production of cold temperatures below -100 degrees Celsius. We anticipate that this technology will be applied in fields that require ultra-low temperatures, such as semiconductor processes, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology."
Though we often take them for granted as a convenience of modern life, refrigerators have a sneakily large impact on the ongoing overheating of our planet. The cooling industry accounts for around 10% of global carbon dioxide emissions, three times the amount produced by aviation and shipping combined, the BBC reported.
To make matters worse, getting your hands on a less environmentally harmful refrigerator isn't nearly as simple as, say, an environmentally friendly heating and cooling system for your home. One reporter from Inside Climate News detailed his journey of trying to purchase a carbon-free refrigerator in 2021, with confusing and less than encouraging results.
Luckily, as this breakthrough from KIER shows, the technology is finally catching up to our current climate needs. The European Union recently revised its rules around the sale of products that rely on fluorinated gases (i.e., traditional coolants), pledging to gradually phase them out starting in 2025.
In other positive refrigerator-related news, brands like Whirlpool and LG have been working on improving the technology around recycling old refrigerators. Hopefully, we have a lot more old refrigerators to recycle as soon as they begin to be replaced by non-polluting ones.
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