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…if these heat exchangers can find windespread adoption in computers and air conditioning units, Koplow estimates that the total US electricity consumption could drop by 7%.

Wikipedia says 11% of US electricity goes to air conditioning and 5% to all electronics combined. That about half of that is cooling fans does not survive the sniff test.

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Assuming you got your stats from here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_the_United_States#Cur...

Which says, for Commercial energy use: 25% lighting 13% heating 11% cooling 6% refrigeration 6% water heating 6% ventilation 6% electronics

You could find gains in ventilation, electronics, refrigeration, cooling, and probably even heating if this technology was widely used and performs well over all uses, so the 7% isn't out of the question, even if it might be very optimistic.

I don't disagree with you that the numbers may be off, but consider the fact that the compressors in an A/C unit don't have to work as hard if the heat exchange is more efficient. That's saving electricity from the cooling fan AND the compressor.

Furthermore, put a very large one in place of the fan in the A/C condensor and save more.

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