Solar Energy for Cooling: The Case of the Self-Cooling Soda Bottle

Filed in archive Solar on August 21, 2006

Leave a soda bottle out to bask in the hot sun and what do you get? With a new technology that adheres both solar cells and heat pumps onto surfaces, you may soon get a cold drink instead of a hot bottle of soda. Researches are making progress on turning walls, windows, and other surfaces into climate control systems using the Active Building Envelope (ABE) system. Developed by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), the ABE system will transform surfaces into thermoelectric heat pumps and storage devices to provide energy for both heating and cooling, without any moving or noise-generating parts.

Acting as a thermal coat, the ABE could be applied to various surfaces and transform solar energy generated seamlessly. With such a space-age concept, it is not surprising that the foremost applications are for space vehicles and satellites. Self cooling soda bottles are a near second. Read more about this article from Science Daily here.