Barocal

Roughly one fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions come from heating and cooling systems. It is a substantial share, often underestimated in public debate compared to transport or energy generation. Yet industrial, commercial, and residential HVAC systems continue to operate almost everywhere using conventional refrigerants — compounds that, beyond their energy demand, contribute directly to global warming when released into the atmosphere. Barocal, a spin-out from the University of Cambridge, was founded to address this problem at its root by developing a solid-state technology for heating and cooling that eliminates the need for refrigerants entirely. Barocal's approach sets it apart from conventional energy efficiency solutions, which seek to optimize existing systems without changing their fundamental logic. The solid-state technology developed at Cambridge operates on physical principles that differ entirely from the vapor compression cycles that have dominated the HVAC market for decades: no cryogenic fluids, no compression cycles, no direct fluorogas emissions. The result is a structurally cleaner system with a decarbonization potential that goes well beyond simply reducing electricity consumption. The target market is industrial and commercial HVAC manufacturers facing growing pressure from European and international environmental regulations on refrigerants. The EU F-gas Regulation and the Kigali Amendment are progressively restricting the use of the most harmful refrigerants, creating structural demand for alternatives. Barocal positions itself as the supplier of that alternative for HVAC industry players that must reimagine their technology portfolios. The academic origin — Cambridge is one of the world's leading research centers in materials physics and engineering — provides a strong scientific foundation and potentially defensible intellectual property. The path from university spin-out to industrial player follows the classic European deep tech trajectory: long, capital-intensive, but with high barriers to entry once technological maturity is reached. The potential impact of Barocal is systemic: if the solid-state technology can scale across industrial and commercial segments, it could meaningfully accelerate decarbonization in one of the hardest-to-abate sectors in the global economy.