The first law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed. This means that all cooling systems reject heat as they work by removing heat from a medium in a given space. What prevents us from using this rejected heat for direct thermal applications is that the temperature is too low to be useful. The low temperature of rejected heat from cooling systems requires us to use an energy consuming heat pump to upgrade the heat to a temperature that is suitable for direct thermal applications. What if instead we choose to redesign cooling systems to reject heat at higher temperatures so that could avoid the energy penalty of a heat pump.

If we choose to pursue this in the future then we will end up making cooling systems dual use

1. They provide cooling for refrigeration, air conditioning, gas liquefaction etc

2. They produce usable heat for direct thermal applications

This could eliminate the need for separate cooling and heating systems.

If we pursue this then it will have the following benefits

1. Elimination of natural gas for direct thermal applications

2. Reduction of freshwater consumption by cooling towers to reject heat from cooling systems in industrial applications

3. Elimination of all the costs associated with having cooling and heating systems being two separate systems

4. Reduction of energy cost

Improving cooling systems to reject heat at higher temperatures will enable rejected heat from cooling systems to work as a decarbonization solution.