{"id":1023,"date":"2023-06-15T16:15:49","date_gmt":"2023-06-15T23:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/?p=1023"},"modified":"2023-07-12T15:06:57","modified_gmt":"2023-07-12T22:06:57","slug":"staying-cool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/staying-cool\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient Technology and New Innovation Could Help Keep Us Cool"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n\n \n (Illustrations by Katherine Streeter for USC Dornsife Magazine.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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Ancient Technology and New Innovation Could Help Keep Us Cool<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n
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\n\n \n From architectural designs of long ago to solid-state electronics to economic incentives, USC Dornsife scholars reveal possible solutions to climate change.\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n By<\/span>Rachel B. Levin<\/a><\/strong>\n \n June 15, 2023<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a>Last September, an epic heat dome settled over the western United States, causing the region\u2019s most severe heat wave on record. In many areas, temperatures soared to triple-digit highs for more than a week. Almost a thousand heat records were broken.<\/p>\n

The scorcher is just one example of how heat waves are becoming more intense and longer lasting due to global warming. By 2050, nearly half the world may live in areas where the mercury rises to dangerously high levels for at least a month each year, threatening human health and ways of life.<\/p>\n

In warm regions, demand for air conditioning is on the rise. The number of A\/C units is estimated to reach 5.6 billionglobally by 2050, up from around 2 billion units today. But populations without the means to obtain and maintain these costly systems will be left out in the cold \u2014 or, rather, heat.<\/p>\n

Traditional vapor-compressor air conditioners also have considerable environmental costs. They are energy guzzlers, and if fossil fuels are burned to obtain that energy, more planet-warming emissions are released into the air. The toxic refrigerants many of these systems rely on are also potent greenhouse gases that can leak into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

In its current form, A\/C is no panacea for beating the climate-change heat. But how else can we keep cool?<\/p>\n

The most promising solutions on the horizon leverage technology \u2014 some of it cutting-edge, some of it downright ancient.<\/p>\n

Building a better A\/C<\/h3>\n

One approach is to reimagine the air conditioner itself, to make it less power hungry and less toxic to the environment. With his company Phononic, Tony Atti \u201900<\/a> is doing just that.<\/p>\n

Atti earned a PhD in chemistry<\/a> from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences where he studied at the USC Dornsife Loker Hydrocarbon Research Insitute<\/a>, led by renowned chemists G. K. Surya Prakash<\/a> and the late George Olah<\/a>, winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize in chemistry.<\/p>\n

Atti founded Phononic in 2009 to advance thermoelectric technology, in which cold is generated by moving heat from one side of a thermoelectric chip to another. The technology can use significantly less energy than compressor-based cooling systems and contains no toxic refrigerants. Though the principles underlying thermoelectric technology date back to 1834, Atti spearheaded an effort to make it commercially viable for the 21st century.<\/p>\n

Phononic\u2019s thermoelectric HVAC technology will debut this summer in a first-of-its-kind air-cooling system in Europe. Atti explains that the system works by using a building\u2019s established compressor-based system to partially chill the outside air, before Phononic\u2019s technology kicks in to cool it to thermostat level.<\/p>\n

Test data show that this hybrid operation reduces a building\u2019s energy consumption by almost 50% and reduces emissions from the building system\u2019s hydrofluorocarbon refrigerant by more than 30%.<\/p>\n

Phononic has also developed solutions for localized outdoor cooling. In 2019, the company installed thermoelectric bladeless fans in several popular outdoor locations in Singapore. The fans, which use 50% less energy than industrial bladed fans, create an \u201cair curtain\u201d of cooling over a distinct area that can decrease ambient temperature by up to 50 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity by up to 15%.<\/p>\n

Atti plans to bring Phononic-enabled cooling solutions to the United States and elsewhere around the world but notes that moving the needle on compressor-based systems involves time and persistence. \u201cIt\u2019s not an easy task,\u201d he says. \u201cMajor industries don\u2019t wake up every morning figuring out ways to disrupt themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n