Hardware Podcasts

Unlocking hyper-efficient cooling

Catalyst · 3 Mar 2022 · 49m

What this episode covers

Jessy Rivest, vice president and general manager of the Cleantech program at Xerox PARC, explains why air conditioning accounts for 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions and how demand is projected to triple by 2050. She details the inefficiency of current systems that overcool air to manage humidity before reheating it, and discusses emerging solutions like desiccants, solid-state heat pumps, and ice-based thermal storage. Rivest also analyzes the barriers to adoption, including upfront capital costs, the split-incentive problem in commercial leasing, and the need for new business models like cooling-as-a-service.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Xerox PARC, EnergyHub, Bloom Energy, Sun Run
Also
Global Cooling Prize, SEER, ASHRAE

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