Room Temperature Magnetic Refrigeration [pdf]

Room Temperature Magnetic Refrigeration [pdf] http://www.ameslab.gov/files/MagFridge_Foundation.pdf

A friend and I stumbled on to this last night. I've never heard about this effect before and thought it was interesting.

From the PDF:

    While Gschneidner and Pecharsky’s prototype was a landmark event in 
    the field of magnetic refrigeration, it would likely remain nothing more than a 
    curiosity were it not for the fact that the team’s device is more energy efficient 
    and environmentally friendly than virtually any conventional refrigerator on 
    the market today. Because the relatively inexpensive permanent magnet 
    handles the cooling without the need for additional energy input, electricity 
    is only needed to turn the wheel and circulate the streams of water. For its 
    part, water, even when combined with an environmentally friendly antifreeze, is 
    more benign than the chemical coolants presently in use.
 

And from one of the researchers last year, found at the bottom of https://www.external.ameslab.gov/news/inquiry/2012-2-karl-gs...

    Gschneidner was instrumental in development of refrigerators that
    harnessed this phenomenon in place of traditional gas-compression-driven
    cooling.

    "The biggest stumbling block we now face is coming up with a GMCE
    material that doesn't progressively break down into smaller pieces over
    the billions of magnetization/demagnetization cycles required for a
    15-20-year appliance life," he says. "We also need to reduce the time
    dependence of the transformation."

    Based on the current pace of research and the growing number of working
    prototypes around the world, Gschneidner expects magnetic refrigeration
    to become commercially viable by 2016 or so, a fruition he plans to
    witness.

More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_refrigeration