Elastocaloric Cooling System Co-Developed by CEEE Faculty Featured in Science

Air conditioning, refrigeration and other cooling technologies account for more than 20 percent of today’s global energy consumption, and hydrofluorocarbons, used as refrigerants in vapor compression systems, have a global warming potential thousands of times greater than carbon dioxide. In the May 18 issue of Science, the team led by Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) Professor Ichiro Takeuchi and Mechanical Engineering (ME) Professors Reinhard Radermacher and Yunho Hwang introduce a high-performance elastocaloric cooling system that not only meets climate change concerns but could represent the next generation of cooling devices.