The Future of Refrigeration: how innovation can reduce costs and carbon footprint

Refrigeration and cooling has brought massive societal benefits with, unfortunately a parallel track-record of environmental catastrophe related to the gas refrigerant use required by the vapour-compression technology invented about 140 years ago. 

Cooling technologies are ubiquitous and play a critical role in modern life but at a cost: cooling is currently estimated to be responsible for 7% -10% of global CO2 emissions, several times larger than shipping plus aviation industries combined, and growing three times faster. Also, cooling is estimated to consume currently  17% of all generated electricity globally.

After 40 years of moving from CFC, to HFC, to HFO and other refrigerants, the elimination of gases to produce “cold” with innovative new “solid state technologies”, which are more efficient and cost competitive than the incumbent vapour-compression technology  seems to be possible and also very appealing to many end-users.

Where we are in the development of those innovative `technologies is the object of this event. The future of cooling is now.