Einstein to the rescue!

An early Albert Einstien fridge design from the 1930s is being rebuilt by scientists who are trying to develop a fridge that runs without electricity and doesnt use freons - the man made greenhouse gases which are far far more damaging in terms of climate change than C02.  The fridge, patented in 1935 by Einstien and colleague Leo Szilard, has no moving parts and uses compressed gases to keep food cold, taking advantage of the fact that liquids boil at lower temperatures when the air pressure around them is lower . The design was partially used in the first manufactured domestic fridges but then abandoned as more effective compressors, which used freons, were developed. Now scientists think they can ‘re-invent’ the early fridge to make the design more efficient with solar energy used to produce heat to drive the fridge’s pump.  In another development, engineers at Cambridge based Camfridge are using magnetic fields to cool things - surely all good news - and as Greenpeace’s chief scientist, Doug Parr said “if you look at developing countries, if they are aspiring to the lifestyle we lead, they are going to require more cooling - whether that’s air conditioning, food cooling or freezing. Putting in place the technologies that are both low greenhouse-gas refigerants and low energy use is critical”.