A London-based startup has come up with an innovative self-cooling beverage can technology that could soon make drink refrigerators obsolete.

There are few things better than a cold drink on a hot summer day, but with energy costs and refrigeration-related carbon emissions increasing every year, it’s high time humanity came up with a better, more eco-friendly way of chilling beverages. Enter Delta H Innovations, a London-based startup that claims to have developed the world’s first self-cooling aluminum can. Codenamed ‘Cool Can’, this intriguing invention combines clever design with simple chemistry to make magic happen at the press of a button. The company claims that the Cool Can can lower the temperature of its liquid contents to about 6-7 degrees Celsius (42.8 – 44.6 Fahrenheit) and keep them cool for up to 45 minutes.

The Cool Can looks like a normal aluminum beverage can, apart from the large “power” button on the bottom. The base of the can acts as a hidden water container, and when the button is pressed, the water is released into the space between the can’s double aluminum walls. Embedded between the walls are proprietary salts, which, in reaction with the water, start to rapidly cool the beverage inside.

According to James Vyse, the Welsh founder of Delta H Innovations, it can take up to 10 minutes for the beverage to reach 6-7 degrees Celsius, depending on local temperature, but thanks to the can’s double-layer design, the contents remain cool for about 45 minutes. To let users know that their drink has cooled down enough, the Cool Can features a clever snowflake mark that turns from white to blue when the temperature of the can drops low enough.

The Evening Standard’s Alex Pell recently had the chance to test the Cool Can firsthand, and he claims it really does seem to work as advertised. After pressing the button on the bottom of the container and turning it upside down to help the water mix with the salts in the walls of the can, the lukewarm can started feeling cold to the touch and condensation appeared on its exterior. Although he did not measure the exact temperature of the drink inside, the journalist confirmed that it was cold.

“You’d think that this would be something that corporations would create, not the guy from Swansea in his bedroom,” Vyse himself acknowledged. “But sometimes, the underdog wins. If we get it right… this could become the next Tetrapak.”

Although the Cool Can is still patent pending, Delta H Innovations claims that they are already in talks with big brands like Coca-Cola and Red Bull to potentially adapt their canning process to include this new technology. It’s still too early to say whether this will be the next big thing in the beverage industry, but a lot of people are already very excited about it.

Vyse believes that the added cost to the consumer will be negligible, especially since the Cool Can could help cut the costs of refrigeration significantly, it is fully recyclable, and can be used virtually anywhere. The only real downside is that a 500ml-size can can only hold 70% of the contents of a conventional can of the same size.

It’s not clear when or even if the Cool Can will hit the market, but Delta H Innovations hopes to have some units available for testing at various music festivals over the summer.