The other big gripe is that HVAC produces too much heat that is released to the environment
In 1834, a French watchmaker turned physicist named Jean Charles Athanase Peltier discovered thermoelectric cooling, a solid-state method of heat transfer through dissimilar semiconductor materials. The science of how it works was named the Peltier Effect and it is the basis of how temperatures are measured with thermocouples. The cooling effect is caused by the absorption of heat energy by electrons as they pass through the “cold junction” into the heat sink (the hot side) driven by a DC power source. The beauty of the system is that it does not use any eco-unfriendly refrigerants and thus eliminates the need for the conventional coils and compressor of a conventional refrigeration or HVAC system. Unfortunately, it requires a power source and is extremely inefficient due to the conductive nature of the metals that form the junction. The implications for the HVAC industry are tremendous assuming that the efficiencies can be improved, and systems can be developed to cool large areas. It would put to rest the gripe against HVAC that the use of chlorine-based refrigerants is destroying the Earth’s ozone layer. Linking up a system with solar panels would lower concerns over the consumption of energy created by fossil fuels. The other big gripe is that HVAC produces too much heat that is released to the environment. Wouldn’t the cool air in millions of houses across the USA eventually warm up again and consume the heat in obeyance of the first law of thermodynamics? In the 1950s computers that were the size of houses pale in comparison to today’s palm-sized smartphones. The challenge ahead is to use the Peltier effect to cool that house without the solid state HVAC systems becoming the size of one.