The Future of Cooling

Summary

Global Temperatures are increasing and the UK’s mild climate will become warmer over the next decade. What impact will this have on our goal of netzero 2050? Who will be affected and what is the cost, both environmental and economic? Do we have the policies in place to support our health systems, supply chain and cooling demand over the next 30 years to meet our climate change commitments?

This Conference is held over 2 days to explore the challenges of cooling buildings and people and cooling our supply chain, with presentations from policy leaders, researchers and practitioners, together with discussion around the research and policy/investment needed to assure a UK that is fit for purpose for Cooling in 2050.

Background

The decarbonisation of cooling in buildings and the supply chain is a key challenge for climate and energy policy. Many technologies are advocated to replace fossil-fired power and to reduce cooling demand, ranging in scale from individual buildings to community-wide. However, as pioneering projects show, place-based technology deployment is inseparable from wider questions of policy, consumer demand and equity. Are our current policies and understanding fit for purpose to achieve an equitable and efficient transition to global warming and do we have a clear idea of what the challenges will be?

The Workshop

This workshop will bring together stakeholders with different roles and perspectives on the governance of place-based heat decarbonisation.

There will be representatives from community groups, local authorities, the energy industry, consumer groups, electricity networks, policy and academia.

The Conference will include presentations and discussion, with plenty of time for networking and feedback.

Speakers:

Dr Jenny Pirret, Climate Scientist, Met Office

Antonietta Canta, Principal Environmental and Sustainability Engineer, Arup

Dave Pearson, Group Sustainable Development Director, Star Refrigeration

Professor Carlos Ugalde-Loo, Cardiff University

Professor Meysam Qadrdan, Cardiff University

Dr Sanliang Ling, Nottingham University

Dr Xinfang Wang, Birmingham University

Outputs from the Conference will include:

Outputs from the Conference will be

1. Networking across the industry

2. A collation and publication of all the relevant current research

3. A roadmap to Cooling Decarbonisation

4. An understanding of the research and investment gaps

A written summary of the workshop will be sent to all participants. The outputs will be used to develop future projects on place-based decarbonisation of heating.