Researchers as the University of Denmark have developed a new way to cool using magnets. The technique is completely silent and 60% more energy efficient than traditional compressor-based refrigerators.
The first prototypes, however, will not be available until 2010.

We’ve been big fans of Aerogel (aka “Solid Smoke”) for many years and have even considered making some of our own as a fun project.

If you haven’t heard of it, Aerogel is the lightest solid known to man. If you were ti take a fish tank full of Nitrogen gas (pure nitrogen is slightly heavier than air so it will just sit in an open-topped tank) you can ‘float’ Aerogel blocks on the surface of the nitrogen. It also happens to have remarkable insulation properties.

The last we heard, Aerogel had a small defect that prevented it from being used widely: it was quite fragile. But the fine folks at Aspen Aerogels have apparently gotten that problem solved and now offer a wide range of Aerogel products, including some specifically for building construction.

We’ve dropped them a note to ask about pricing. It would be incredible if we could actually manage to incorporate this material into the shell of the house.

An interesting posting appeared yesterday about a new detergentless washing machine (french only) from Haier.

As pointed out in the comments of the posting (via Engadget): There is no mention of it having an EnergyStar rating, likely because splitting water into OH- and H+ (the process the machine uses instead of detergent) likely uses quite a lot of electricity.

Still, a very interesting start. (Plus, if I’m right about the near-future promise of solar power, exchanging electricity for cleaner water will be a trade I’ll be happy to make.)