The newsletter covers the latest cooling news and research updates; you can see previous editions here. Happy 2021 to you all! The new year sees a new curator, Vicky Grant, for the newsletter. A huge thank you from the Cooling Team to Helen Gavin for all of her hard work in preparing the previous editions of this newsletter. |
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Updates from The Future of Cooling Team
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Join our Programme Manager Nicole Miranda at 4pm on Tuesday 2nd February for her talk 'The future of cooling and its links to the Sustainable Development Goals'
The International Energy Agency predicts that 10 air conditioners will be sold every second from here to 2030 – with long-lasting consequences for our energy consumption and the planet. Often considered as a side-show to research and policy covering heating; cooling is potentially the most significant opportunity we have to moderate the trajectory of energy demand. This talk will provide an overview of the challenges surrounding cooling, it’s importance in relation to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and a framework to tackle the future of cooling demand, as proposed by the Future of Cooling Programme (Nature Sustainability – October 2020). The talk is hosted by the Oxford Energy Network.
Dr Nicole Miranda's research focus is on passive cooling systems – those that consume no (or very low energy), especially compared to air conditioners. With a background in chemical engineering and sustainable energy systems, she considers technological solutions for mitigating building energy consumption while providing thermal comfort. Her research forms part of the wider portfolio of both the Oxford Martin School and the Energy and Power Group in the Department of Engineering Science.
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Cooling practices between nature and cultural symbolism - Antonella Mazzone
To cope with high temperatures, Amazonian people tend to bathe in the river (in the case of riverside communities) or ‘igarape’ (water streams) in the case of inland villages. The literature on Amerindian inhabitants shows a strong connection between cooling practices, pregnancies and water. Rahman (2019) found that among the Warekenas tribe ‘[…] pregnant women, full-stomached and hot due to the growing accumulation of blood in the womb, bathe early morning when the river is at its coolest. Bathing cools and bolsters them, ensuring they are able to undertake their daily tasks with steadfast industriousness’ (Rahman, 2019:65 in Steel and Attala, 2019). These cases of cooling practices and strategies among Amazonian traditional populations reveal some key elements that should be taken into consideration when addressing cooling needs. In both the case of Warekena and Jacuru, people seem to have developed a spiritual and symbolic ‘beyond-matter-body divide’ connection with the river and the water. Energy studies can benefit from understanding people’s symbolic interaction with the elements of nature and how it shapes the body and embodied cooling behaviours.
The paper, "Thermal comfort and cooling strategies in the Brazilian Amazon. An assessment of the concept of fuel poverty in tropical climates", explores the concept of fuel poverty in hot and humid climates, the cooling strategies employed and the perception of thermal comfort from communities living in the Brazilian Amazon.
Antonella Mazzone is a Research Associate for the Future of Cooling Programme. Her research is devoted to understand indigenous energy ontologies and practices; social justice and gender in energy studies. She is currently working on vernacular cooling practices and embodied cooling.
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The pathway comprises a set of milestones to achieve zero emissions from cooling, by applying a theory of change methodology: 'avoid - shift - improve'. The work proposes a vision for 2050 in which:
- Adoption of passive cooling will be widely spread.
- Super-efficient equipment and appliances will be the norm, and powered by sustainable energy.
- Ultra-low global warming potential refrigerants will be dominant across all cooling.
Our team members (Prof. Radhika Khosla and Dr. Nicole Miranda) contributed towards the understanding of "avoid" initiatives, i.e. the use of little or no energy for cooling and that can be alternative technologies to, for example, high energy-consuming air conditioners. These passive cooling measures are usually embedded within a building envelope to facilitate air circulation, shading, vegetation, amongst others. The report's Executive Summary was published at the end of the year and can be found here.
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Stimulating consumers’ pro-circular economy attitudes towards remanufactured refrigeration appliances - Giovani Palafox-Alcantar
Refrigerated Display Cabinets (RDCs) are used to display and stock chilled and frozen food and drinks in supermarkets and convenience shops. The production network of RDCs extensively utilises materials and energy. Their technical capability for remanufacturing is considerable as their functioning capacity can be increased by up to 20 years; thus, reducing associated waste and the demand for materials needed to assemble new RDCs. However, the recovered value of these remanufactured refrigeration equipment are low to consumers. This represents a critical barrier to adopt circular economy in the production network of the sector.
Muranko et al. (2019) evaluated the impact Behaviour Change Interventions (BCI) had on RDCs consumers’ behavioural attitudes/intentions and their product perceptions. These interventions to buyers were in the form of presentations with facts, photos of remanufactured RDCs, and persuasive communication. The study found that there is a positive impact after interventions: 1) Potential buyers were now more willing to purchase a remanufactured RDC; 2) also, their perceptions of RDCs improved – characteristics such as quality, performance, appearance, longevity and warranty were now viewed as comparable between new and remanufactured RDCs.
This sector could therefore benefit from educating potential buyers on the remanufacturing process and ultimately influence their decision to purchase this type of remanufactured products.
Giovani Palafox-Alcantar's research focuses on Global Production Networks for cooling systems, particularly on analysing the end-of-life stage in order to situate these systems within a Circular Economy.
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Have you met the Future of Cooling Research Team?
You can 'visit' the research team here and find out more about their research focus and role within the Programme. |
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Contributions from you, our subscribers
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New call launched by IFC, aiming to matchmake innovators with adopters.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is carrying out 'TechEmerge Sustainable Cooling Innovation Program' which aims to matchmake cooling technology innovators with adopters in developing countries. IFC launched a new call for companies developing innovative temperature controlled logistics technologies to be implemented in Nigeria on December 8th, 2020.
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Do you have something 'cool' to share in our next issue?
Please feel free to reply to this email with any news, funding calls or events related to cooling which you would like to share and that can feature in the next issue.
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Cooling News from around the Web
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2020 was the Hottest Year on Record
This interesting article shows that [once again] we've had the hottest year on record (and in the hottest decade!). This reminds us that the need for cooling is imperative, not only for comfort but to avoid health issues and deaths associated with heatwaves. We invite you to read more on the Bloomberg article.
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We tweet about all items related to cooling, including our own work researching and shaping the unprecedented future growth in global cooling demand. Please follow us! @OxfordCooling
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Thank you for your time! Do get in touch if you have anything 'Cool' to share with us. Until next time!
Vicky Grant
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