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We propose a new method to effect heat removal from an object by using a laser beam. The proposed method is based on inelastic scattering of a laser beam from the object and in particular by making the anti-Stokes emission more efficient than the Stokes emission. In that manner more energy is removed from the body per unit time than deposited. Various ways are outlined in order to achieve this result ranging from careful selection of the laser frequency with respect to the resonant frequencies of the medium, use of the frequency dependence of the density of electromagnetic modes in a three-dimensional system, use of photonic crystals and the polarization dependence of electromagnetic modes in cavities. The proposed methods could find use for example in the cooling of devices of nanoscale dimensions.