VIDEO | How we can turn the cold of outer space into a renewable resource

Aaswath Raman| Ted2018

Open the embedded content

What if we could use the cold darkness of outer space to cool buildings on earth? In this mind-blowing talk, physicist Aaswath Raman details the technology he’s developing to harness “night-sky cooling” — a natural phenomenon where infrared light escapes earth and heads to space, carrying heat along with it — which could dramatically reduce the energy used by our cooling systems (and the pollution they cause).

Learn more about how this approach could lead us towards a future where we intelligently tap into the energy of the universe.

Aaswath Raman is a scientist passionate about harnessing new sources of energy, mitigating climate change and more intelligently understanding the world around us — by better manipulating light and heat using nanoscale materials.

Why you should listen

Aaswath Raman is an assistant professor of electrical and systems engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also co-founder of a clean energy startup, SkyCool Systems, where he is its chief scientific officer. He initiated and led the development of radiative sky cooling, a technology that he originated as a research associate at Stanford University, beginning in 2012.

Raman is deeply interested in the intersection of science, technology and development work, and he has previously collaborated on projects to redesign refugee camps with UNHCR and to rethink governance in rural Sierra Leone. In recognition of his breakthroughs in developing radiative sky cooling, in 2015 he was named one of MIT Technology Review’s “Innovators Under 35.”