Comment on If the first solar entrepreneur hadn't been kidnapped, would fossil fuels have dominated the 20th century?

• belathus@bookwormstory.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  The device you’re thinking of might be a peltier or thermoelectric cooler (TEC). But yes. They’re way less efficient than a vapor compression refrigerator, though.

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  • luthis@lemmy.nz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Ohhhh… Thanks!

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• HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Fridges work on gas pressure - compress a gas it heats up, decompress a gas it cools…

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  • luthis@lemmy.nz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Wait… then what am I thinking of? I’m sure this effect is used somewhere

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    • HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Looks like you are also a kiwi (that or an AI bot cus i see you everywhere) so probably in an electric chilibin- the reverse effect can be used to cool one plate of metal and heat up the other side.

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      • luthis@lemmy.nz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        The whole internet is AI bots bro. You’re the only real human here.

        If I was a human though, I would be Kiwi. Kia ora!

        Yeah, I think that’s what I was thinking of.

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    • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      You are thinking of a thermo-electric cooler (TEC) or peltier cooler. They actually are used on smaller wine fridges but not full sized fridges. They are light-weight, electrically efficient, and reliable. They were also used in the early days of CPU overclocking.

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• CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Like the very small fridges that work for a single soda can? Refrigerators use the liquid/gas transition to move heat around. It’s much more efficient.

  The only real advantage of Peltiers are simplicity and size.

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