Bumbling round the Net looking at geo-thermal heat pumps as a possible replacement for our oil-fired boiler, now that fuel prices are so high, I stumbled across solid state heat pumps: The 'Peltier' effect, where application of dc current across a semiconductor causes the device to pump heat from one face to the other, by means of electron transport. With a COP [coefficient of performance] of up to 0.7, not of much interest.
But further digging revealed a new technology called CoolChips[TM], in which a vacuum-gap of 30-100 Angstroms allows " thermotunnelling", or the passing of electrons across a very small space with much improved electron transport. This is claimed to have the potential to outperform Peltier devices by 11 times, [ COP = 8 ] and thus beat conventional heat pumps or air-con compressor/evaporator devices by 18%, with a Carnot cycle bettering 55%.
So, if electrons can transport heat, in the same way as a refrigerant - does that mean an electron can get hot or cold?


Wood work but can't!