What will we use to cool tomorrow?

For the year 2060, futurologists expect a paradigm shift in global energy consumption: for the first time, mankind will then use more energy for cooling purposes than for heating. The increasing penetration of cooling applications in our everyday lives has resulted in a steadily growing ecological footprint. New processes such as magnetic cooling could minimize this impact on the climate and the environment. Researchers at the TU Darmstadt and the Helmholtz Centre Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have examined the materials currently in question for their suitability in more detail. The result of their work is the first systematic material library with important parameters, which they have now published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials.