Barocal wins £1.3m for zero-carbon refrigeration tech

Instead of using refrigerant gases with high global warming potential, Barocal’s technology uses new solid-state, temperature-changing materials that are cheap and non-toxic. The organic materials release and absorb heat at different pressures as they change volume. Known as barocaloric materials, they are more efficient than fluid refrigerants, and as they are solids, more eco-friendly and easier to recycle at product end-of-life.

The Barocal team now plans to explore the potential of its tech for domestic and commercial heating systems, hoping to provide a cost-effective, efficient alternative to expensive air source heat pumps.

Dr Xavier Moya, who co-founded Barocal based on his research in Cambridge University’s Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, explained that heating and cooling accounts for 38 per cent of the UK’s CO2 emissions, so the government’s commitment to a 78 per cent cut in emissions by 2035 will require new low-carbon domestic heating systems.