Einstein fridge design can help global cooling

[n2doc]

Scientists relaunch a 1930 invention that uses no electricity and would reduce greenhouse gases
Alok Jha, green technology correspondent
The Observer, Sunday September 21 2008
An early invention by Albert Einstein has been rebuilt by scientists at Oxford University who are trying to develop an environmentally friendly refrigerator that runs without electricity.

Modern fridges are notoriously damaging to the environment. They work by compressing and expanding man-made greenhouse gases called freons - far more damaging that carbon dioxide - and are being manufactured in increasing numbers. Sales of fridges around the world are rising as demand increases in developing countries.

Now Malcolm McCulloch, an electrical engineer at Oxford who works on green technologies, is leading a three-year project to develop more robust appliances that can be used in places without electricity.


His team has completed a prototype of a type of fridge patented in 1930 by Einstein and his colleague, the Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard. It had no moving parts and used only pressurised gases to keep things cold. The design was partly used in the first domestic refrigerators, but the technology was abandoned when more efficient compressors became popular in the 1950s. That meant a switch to using freons.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/sep/21/scienceofclimatechange.climatechange

[pnorman]

1. Hee's the Wiki on refrigeration:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigeration

And here's the Einstein refrigerator: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_refrigerator

Thanks for that article. That concept may or not work out, but there's SO MUCH that could be done to Save The Planet (our Primary Residence), once we drop that Deer In The Headlights apathy, and get moving in the right direction!

pnorman

[RC]

2. When they get it to the point where it can keep a 3 cubic foot freezer @ -10°F

when the ambient temperature is +105°F, then they will have a viable item. They have a long ways to go.

Keep in mind that Freon is used in a closed system, a point overlooked in the article. BTY, Freon is a brand name, like Jello or Kleenex.