While the average person associates boiling with cooking dinner, the process is also widely used to transfer heat across surfaces. It is used in refrigerators, in industrial boilers and even on the international space station to reject heat from its systems into outer space. In fact, around 90 percent of electricity in the United States is generated by steam turbines, which require boilers. More efficient boiling can result in significant energy and cost savings. That’s why researchers continue to study the process.