This paper contained a detail review of heat pipe application ranging from computer electronics to renewable energy. In computer electronics
application, the trend of the computer processors performance and power consumption has been increased significantly each year. Heat dissipation
has been increased but in contrast the size of die on the processor has been reduced or remained the same size due to nano-size circuit technology and
thus the heat flux is critically high. The heat flux was about 10-15 W/cm
2
in the year 2000 and had reached over 100 W/cm
2
in 2010. The purpose of
this paper is to provide insight into how to extend the air cooling capability and maximize its performance by use of heat pipes.
The global warming crisis is real, and it is a responsibility for all individuals to put forth effort to reduce and prevent further damage to the global
environment. In most countries worldwide, the majority of electric power is generated from non-renewable energy sources including coal, gas, and
nuclear power, which degrade earth’s atmosphere by green house gas emissions. With the use of heat pipes can minimize carbon emissions to the
environment. Some applications presented and discussed in this paper are collecting natural cold energy and storing it for cooling of data centers and
agricultural products, cooling concentrated photo voltaic cells using Phase Change Material and night sky radiation cooling, use of heat pipes to
prevent iceberg and glacier melting, collection of solar heat for road snow melting, use of large-scale heat pipes for extraction of geothermal heat,
and use of ultra-large-scale heat pipes for cooling and maintaining the earth’s temperature.
Keywords: cooling electronics, computer processor, global warming, data center, heat pipe, thermo-siphon, artificial permafrost storage.