The ELICT "Environmentally Low Impact Cooling Technology" project (www.elicit-project.eu) is a project funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme for Research.

The 3-year project will help efficient gas free magnetic cooling move from a laboratory scale technology to a high volume marketable product. The project started in January 2014.

The domestic fridge consumes 5% of all generated electricity. As a result, current regulatory regimes are structured to drive domestic fridge manufacturers to produce the most energy efficient appliances possible.

Magnetic cooling, when combined with the latest insulation, could represent a further 25% reduction in energy consumption for domestic appliances beyond the A+++ standard. A+++ appliances represent the highest level of energy efficiency as defined by the EU single market  The main objective of the project is to consider the magnetic cooling solution in its entirety and to optimise the complete magnetic cooling solution as an integrated appliance. 

The project focusses on 4 key aspects:

1 / Life Cycle Optimisation - to provide production, cost and environmental data to aid system optimisation and to inform decision making.

2 / System Optimisation - to evolve a solution that is production scalable, efficient, cost effective and environmentally friendly.

3 / Benchmarked Validation - to establish the energy efficient credentials for the technology.

4 / Regulations and Standards - to ensure the technology complies with existing regulations, and to establish how the new technology will fit into standards.