# Is it possible to harness energy from the exothermic reaction of changes of state of matter?

Since a substance emits heat as it transitions from a high energy state (gas) to a lower energy state (solid), is it possible to devise a method to capture this heat and convert it to usable energy?

I'm not sure how economical this would be, but consider the exothermic reaction of water freezing. The heat of fusion for water is $3.33 *10^5 J/kg$

So if a 1 cubic meter of water was frozen, there would be: $3.33 * 10^5 J/kg * 1000kg = 3.33 * 10^8 J$ of heat energy produced.

The heat value for the vaporization of water is $2.36 * 10^6 J/kg$ which would be even more efficient, though it is more difficult to capture 1000kg of water vapor.

I imagine this might be akin to how an air conditioner works, but I cannot imagine how this may be done or if it is already being attempted. So I pose the question here, would it be possible to harness the heat energy from the air and water concentrate it into a usable form of energy--a clean form of energy at that. Why, or why not?

-
We already do harness it. –  Parth Vader Apr 10 at 7:04