Cambridge Spin-Out Barocal Wins $1M Prize for Next-Generation Cooling Technology

A company spun out from Cambridge University won a $1 million award in July 2025 for a new kind of cooling system that works without traditional refrigerants. Barocal's technology, developed by materials physicist Xavier Moya and his team, uses plastic crystals that cool things down when squeezed under pressure—instead of relying on gases like those used in air conditioners and refrigerators today. Early estimates suggest the approach could cut energy use by two to three times and eliminate harmful fluorinated gases that damage the atmosphere.

How the Technology Works

Barocal's cooling system centers on a clever physics trick: plastic crystals that change their properties when you apply pressure to them. When these materials transition from one state to another under pressure, they release or absorb large amounts of heat—much like how squeezing a bicycle pump warms it up, but controlled and useful for refrigeration.

The plastic crystals are flexible, easily available, cheap, and safe—advantages over today's cooling gases. Traditional refrigerants like HFCs require careful handling and leak into the environment; they damage the ozone layer and contribute to global warming. Barocal's solid materials stay sealed inside the cooling system and never escape into the atmosphere.

The Environmental Case

Breakthrough Energy estimates that barocaloric devices could cut cooling-related emissions by up to 75 percent compared with standard air conditioning units. That benefit comes from two directions: getting rid of harmful refrigerant gases altogether, and using a more efficient cooling cycle based on pressure rather than vapor.

The timing matters. The European Union and the United Nations have both started phasing out traditional refrigerants. Barocal's approach offers a way for companies to meet these new regulations without sacrificing performance—a significant advantage over some "greener" alternatives that require compromise.

A Pattern Worth Watching

The broader context here shows a pattern we have seen before with new technology platforms. When solid-state drives started replacing mechanical hard drives in the late 2000s, skepticism ran high about cost and durability. Manufacturing eventually scaled, real-world tests proved the technology worked, and adoption accelerated. Barocal's journey through major competitions and now a substantial funding award suggests similar momentum may be building—but technology's promise doesn't always translate smoothly to the market.

From Lab to Commercial Product

Converting a working prototype into products you can actually buy requires solving several real engineering problems. Heat exchangers, pressure systems, and control mechanisms all need to work reliably in commercial equipment. Traditional cooling systems have been refined for decades; new approaches start from scratch on cost and reliability.

The pressure cycling mechanism is a particular engineering challenge. Conventional compressors run continuously; barocaloric systems must apply and release pressure in precisely timed pulses across the plastic crystals. This demands new designs for pumps, materials, and the software that controls them.

Where This Technology Might Win First

Cooling and heating consume roughly 40 percent of the world's energy, so improvements here offer big prizes. The technology could eventually serve air conditioning, commercial refrigeration, data center cooling, and industrial processes—each with different needs and timelines.

Data centers look like the most promising early market. Operators already care deeply about energy efficiency because it cuts their operating costs. They have technical staff to evaluate new technologies, and they can afford systems with longer payback periods if efficiency gains are large enough. The controlled environment also makes engineering simpler than in homes or variable commercial spaces.

In this author's view, early deployment will cluster around applications where the environmental benefit or energy savings justify a cost premium, before manufacturing scale brings prices down. That follows the pattern we have seen with other energy-saving technologies—they prove themselves in niche applications first, then spread.

Competition and the Real Challenge

Barocal is not alone in pursuing alternatives to today's vapor-compression cooling. Magnetic refrigeration, thermoelectric cooling, and other methods all target pieces of the market. Success depends not just on physics—it depends on whether you can manufacture at scale, keep maintenance simple, and integrate the system into existing buildings and equipment.

The Cambridge connection helps. Academic credibility matters. But getting from a working laboratory prototype to factory-ready products is a different kind of engineering, one that funding alone cannot solve. The TERA-Award money supports that transition, yet the real milestone is achieving cost parity with conventional systems—the point where customers choose the new technology not for environmental reasons but because it saves them money.

Worth flagging: the cooling industry moves cautiously. Reliability is critical, existing supply chains are entrenched, and manufacturers and installers know what they know. Even technically superior alternatives face long adoption cycles as the industry builds confidence. Barocal must clear two hurdles—proving its technology works better—but also building the partnerships, expertise, and trust necessary to sell it at scale. The first is a physics problem; the second is an industry problem, and history suggests the second takes longer.