Sustainable Cooling Solutions

Agricultural Cold Chain Data - A lack of data on agricultural cold chains is a key barrier to investment. An initiative by the Global Food Cold Chain Council (GFCCC) and UNEP OzonAction for developing a database model to quantify stocks, understand gaps and project scenarios of the cold chain applications at different cold chain processes through a comprehensive assessment methodology and a thorough data collection approach that captures information about technologies, refrigerants, food loss, energy, economics, and operation practices. The model is designed to capture the details and specifics of each sub-sector; therefore, the classification and categorization of sectors and sub-sectors was critical to ensure the comprehensiveness and inclusiveness of the model.

See also: The Energy Smart Food Programme (FAO)

Air coolers, evaporative air coolers or swamp coolers, are devices that use water evaporation to cool the air. They are particularly useful in low-humidity areas but are less effective in humid climates.

Awareness refers to information or behaviour campaigns to make consumers aware of the benefits of choosing certain cooling solutions over others.

Behaviour change can be powerful means of helping reduce energy demand from cooling. This can include setting the right temperature for AC cooling (that is, not too cold), wearing the right clothes including being allowed to ‘dress down’ when it’s hot and altering working patterns to allow people to work during the cooler hours of the day.

Building codes are regulatory policies that can be one of the most effective measures for energy efficiency and cooling.

A carbon tax shifts the social costs of climate change to the source of the pollution, encouraging polluters to reduce emissions and invest in sustainable energy solutions.

Certification includes mandatory testing, benchmarking and certification of a product, service or educational credential related to cooling.

Community cooling hubs can help communities reduce food waste, preserve vaccines, increase their income and meet rural communities’ cooling needs in an affordable and sustainable way by bringing together services in a single hub.

Constructed air flow uses natural air movement outside and pressure differences to both passively cool and ventilate a building. This can include natural ventilation such as windows, doors, hatches, vehicle openings and exhaust gaps.

The use of reflective roofing materials and simply painting roofs, can bring temperatures down by up to 4°C. Cool roofs are globally applicable to all building types, with the most benefits accruing in warmer climates. Highest efficiency gains are in single story structures with a high roof to wall area ratio.

Reflective materials applied to vertical building surfaces cool by reducing the amount of solar energy absorbed by the walls. There are many light-coloured, cool wall products available commercially and they tend to stay clean and reflective over time. Cool walls are applicable in all but the coldest climates.

A pay-per-service model with integrated finance to recapitalize providers, who own and rent the cooling equipment. They take on all future costs related to operations and maintenance including water, electricity, and repair bills. Cooling as a service (CaaS) encourages manufacturers of cooling technology to design for reuse rather than obsolescence thus supporting circular economy.

CaaS makes efficient and high-tech cooling accessible to everyone through a pay-as-you-cool model. Users do not purchase equipment, therefore avoiding the upfront costs of expensive modern cooling systems. Instead, users only pay a monthly fee, based on the amount of cooling used. This fee includes maintenance, repairs, and running costs, such as electricity and water.

CaaS makes efficient and high-tech cooling accessible to everyone through a pay-as-you-cool model. Users do not purchase equipment, therefore avoiding the upfront costs of expensive modern cooling systems. Instead, users only pay a monthly fee, based on the amount of cooling used. This fee includes maintenance, repairs, and running costs, such as electricity and water.

Disclosure includes mandatory labels or certificates that convey information about a cooling solution, or a public database of products, buildings, vehicles or services.

District Cooling delivers chilled water to buildings from a central plant or a set of distributed sources. Such systems offer cities a more efficient and climate-friendly cooling option to substitute the individual room air-conditioning units and chillers and therefore could contribute to the efforts to mitigate excess urban heat. District cooling systems allow easier integration of renewable energy and thermal energy storage, and produce less air and heat pollution than mechanical cooling. However, district cooling typically uses a high amount of water, have significant upfront costs, and typically require high density service areas. 

Earth coupling uses the moderate and consistent temperature of soil to act as a heat sink to cool a building through conduction.

Primary, secondary and university education on cooling can support better decision making for a larger share of the population, encourage behaviour change and increase innovation at a community level.

Efficient air conditioners are cooling devices that typically use a vapour-compression cycle of a refrigerant to provide cooling to a specific temperature.

Efficient refrigerators and freezers are refrigerating appliances, that have insulated cabinets with one or more compartments that are controlled at specific temperatures.

See also: Making sustainable, affordable refrigeration a reality for all (CLASP)

Efficient fans are electrical devices that deliver cooling by moving hot air out of a space, moving cool air into a space or moving air within a space to make occupants feel cooler.

Policy solutions that consider the pricing of electricity, especially in countries where electricity is subsidized. Pricing should reflect the real cost of energy generation plus the associated carbon and ambient air emissions.

Optimization, monitoring, inspection and maintenance of cooling equipment at prescribed regular intervals.

Fundraising refers to fundraising efforts for grants, loans, or other types of financing to implement sustainable solutions.

See also: Ashden's Fair Cooling Fund , Financing the replacement of harmful refrigerants (Multilateral Fund to the Montreal Protocol)

Grants are direct financial contributions to a sustainable cooling solution that are non-repayable. Grants are typically meant to stimulate early stage innovation or the development of new cooling capacity.

A vegetative layer grown on a rooftop that reduces indoor and outdoor air temperature through evapotranspiration and shading of the roof surface. Best used in areas with sufficient rainfall to support the vegetation and where stormwater mitigation is a priority. Structures should need to have enough support to bear the weight of the soil and the plants grown.

Made up of plants grown in supported vertical systems that are generally attached to an internal or external wall, although in some cases they may be freestanding. Green walls cool through evapotranspiration and shading of a building's walls. There are a number of green wall technologies that are technically applicable across a range of building types. The availability of water is critical to the performance of green walls.

Heat action plans can be municipal or regional strategies containing a number of different measures to reduce the health and mortality impacts of extreme heat. Example measures include early warning systems for high temperatures, awareness raising campaigns, healthcare worker training and the deployment of passive solutions.

See also: Solutions for extreme heat resilience (Arsht-Rock)

Labels are intended to drive consumers’ purchasing choices and can therefore strongly influence the effectiveness of energy efficiency and cooling programs.

Import and export duties place controls on products entering or exiting a national market, either through a regulatory policy, requiring a minimum performance standard, or through a duty that adds an additional cost to reflect environmental impacts. An example might be controls and duties applied by a country to limit the dumping of inefficient appliances.

Effective insulation includes roof and wall insulation, insulated windows and insulated containers.

For many common vaccines to remain effective, refrigeration between 2-8°C is required at every step of the journey. The 'last mile' of medical cold-chains is often the most crucial, yet geographically and logistically challenging. Last mile vaccine delivery typically involves a number of cooling solutions including active cooling, refrigerated transport and sustainable energy supply for rural health centres

Localized and mobile cooling includes ventilated or air-conditioned car seats, cooling gel pads, portable battery or electric-powered fans, cooling vests and other wearable cooling devices.

Maintenance services are those operational services that extend valuable life and lower overall life-cycle costs of sustainable cooling solutions. They can include the changing and servicing of refrigerants, cleaning and general repairs.

A sustainable cooling management service provides a range of activities, data and information to enable improved decision-making and behaviour change, such as monitoring and evaluation reports.

Minimum energy performance standards for air conditioners - are a crucial tool in reducing energy demand for cooling and making more efficient solutions affordable for a broader variety of customers.

Minimum energy performance standards for refrigerators are a crucial tool in reducing energy demand for cooling and making more efficient refrigerators affordable for a broader variety of customers.

Modal shifts, such as, road to rail or road to drone provide more sustainable cooling transport options. For example, the drone company Zipline has been successfully delivering medical supplies from its distribution centres to rural communities in Rwanda and Ghana since 2016 and 2019. It currently has 80% coverage in Rwanda outside of Kigali, and 40-50% in Ghana.

Natural water forms such as lakes, rivers, wetlands and oceans cool via convection of air over the cooler water surface temperature, which is typically several degrees cooler than ambient air temperatures in high temperature environments.

The Cooling for All needs assessment, developed by Heriot-Watt University and Sustainable Energy for All, is a peer-reviewed tool for governments, development institutions and non-governmental organizations to assess the full spectrum of cooling needs across buildings, cities, agriculture and health – as well as to identify the policy, technology and finance measures to address those needs. Building on the needs assessment, many countries are developing National Cooling Action Plans as a key policy tool to coordinate action on energy efficiency and the phase-down of HFCs, and to proactively address their growing cooling needs while reducing the climate impact of cooling practices, improving access to cooling and addressing several SDGs.

See also: The role of National Cooling Action Plans in delivering the global environment agenda (Cool Coalition)

Operation services are the operation of more sustainable cooling services through a one-stop-shop such as those provided in a Cooling Community Hub or be a portion of the solution within a wider business model.

The introduction of operations that focus on more sustainable cooling services within communities, businesses or organisations. For example, a one-stop-shop such as a cooling community hub or by including sustainable solutions within a wider business model.

Pre-cooling solutions for transport or storage can be a very cost effective and efficient way of preserving the quality of agricultural. Most refrigerated trucks or storage rooms don't have refrigeration capacity or air movement capability to rapidly cool produce. Passive solutions include evaporative natural cooling and even just putting crops under shade immediately after harvest to prevent moisture loss, lower the temperature and maintain quality for far longer than if it's left out in the sun. This is particularly important for crops with high respiration rates.

Permeable pavements are very similar to their conventional asphalt and concrete counterparts, but are mixed without fine particles to allow for the passage of stormwater through the surface of the pavement. This cools by evaporating water stored within the pavement. Most appropriate for lower traffic areas such as parking lots, alleys, cycle lanes, curb lanes or trails. Not appropriate where polluted water would be released directly into a natural body of water.

Portable shade stations are typically lightweight, mobile shading devices that can be used by an individual or group. They can be used in any outdoor work setting, such as a farm, or for protection during heat waves.

Pre-cooling solutions before transport or storage can be a very cost effective and efficient way of preserving the quality of agricultural or medical goods, as most refrigerated trucks or storage rooms have neither the refrigeration capacity nor air movement capability needed to rapidly cool. Active technologies include the use of ice, forced-air pre-cooling, hydro-cooling, individually quick frozen (IQF) and blast freezing. All of which need a power source

Services led by engineers, designers, architects or contractors are fundamental to achieving more sustainable cooling access. This includes sharing best practice in terms of urban planning that uses passive cooling and building design that uses more sustainable cooling technology.

Public procurement of sustainable cooling solutions that provide consumer benefits by buying in bulk, lowering the price and increasing the quality of a standardized product

Rebates are direct financial contributions as the result of purchasing a sustainable cooling product or service. Typically rebates are collected after installation or purchase.

Standards or minimum energy performance standards specify the minimum level of energy performance that appliances, lighting and electrical equipment must meet or exceed before they can be offered for sale or used for commercial purposes.

Manufactured shading can include standalone items such as umbrellas or be included as a component of building such as overhangs, external blinds, or even solar panels. Cooling results from minimizing solar heat gains and are appropriate in almost any situation.

Trees provide shade and cool through evapotranspiration so increasing the tree canopy is a common cooling solution that provides myriad of co-benefits including air quality. Studies have shown that trees and green infrastructure can reduce urban temperatures by 2 to 8°C. Trees are appropriate where adequate water is available and when the species choice reflects the native trees. Consideration should be made about the expected future local climate conditions.

Skills development, advanced training and educational courses can support practical decision making at a vocational and professional level.

Solar powered air conditioners are cooling devices that typically use a vapour-compression cycle of a refrigerant to provide cooling to a specific temperature. These devices are powered by solar energy and as a result are more suitable to off-grid settings or on-grid settings, where electricity reliability is low.

Solar powered fans are devices that deliver cooling by moving hot air out of a space, moving cool air into a space or moving air within a space to make occupants feel cooler. These electrical devices are powered by solar energy and as a result are more suitable to off-grid settings or on-grid settings where electricity reliability is low.

Solar powered refrigerators and freezers are appliances that have insulated cabinets with one or more compartments controlled at specific temperatures. These devices are powered by solar energy and as a result are more suitable to off-grid settings or on-grid settings where electricity reliability is low.

Pavements that are darker in colour have higher surface temperatures than lighter coloured materials and can raise air temperatures. Reflective pavements reduce the amount of solar energy absorbed by a paved surface. Solar reflective pavements are currently most useful in pedestrian and low-traffic paved areas in warm climates.

Direct-drive technology uses the sun’s energy to freeze water or other phase-change material and then uses the cooling from that ice bank to keep the refrigerator cold during the night and cloudy days. These refrigerators are called direct-drive solar refrigerators because they are wired directly to the photovoltaic generators.

Solar-powered walk-in cold rooms can be used at farms, farm clusters, produce aggregation centers and outdoor food markets. They are typically used smallholder farmers, retailers and wholesalers to store and preserve fresh fruits, vegetables and other perishable foods

If there is no grid power, stand-alone solar or biomass based cold storage systems can meet the energy demand by utilizing locally available resources, particularly agricultural waste. Thus, they also obviate the dependence on polluting diesel generator sets.

Subsidies are direct financial contributions to reduce the up-front costs of a sustainable cooling product or service. Subsidies are typically applied before people buy the product and therefore reduce the price paid.

Tax credits reduce the cost of implementing a sustainable cooling solution by lowering the tax obligation, typically income tax liability, at a cost commensurate with the price of the solution.

Urban planning and form is the advantageous use of planning and landscape features to reduce excess heat. This includes reducing the amount of solar energy that is absorbed by urban surfaces, effectively moving wind through urban centres and efficiently shedding heat from buildings and pavements.

To ensure that vaccines are widely available and remain cold, safe and effective throughout the entire supply chain, each country’s immunization program needs access to high-performing and well-maintained cold chain equipment. Such cold chain equipment, when available at the required cold chain points-in-country, will increase vaccine availability, potency, and safety.

See also: Protecting medicines and vaccines through data analytics across the cold chain (Nexleaf Analytics)

Voluntary standards are similar to other regulatory standards, such as the Minimum Energy Performance Standards for appliances, but are voluntary. This means they are typically less effective for reducing energy demand for cooling. However, on a regional basis, voluntary standards can be useful to align different national markets and support enhanced consumer decision-making.

Manufactured water infrastructure solutions can include fountains, swimming pools, and misting stations. In addition to their passive cooling benefits, these features may be repurposed on extreme heat days to serve as cooling stations.

Wind corridors are created by designing buildings and urban areas to maximize the movement of cool air from natural cooling sources to areas where cooling is needed. This is done through aligning building corridors with prevailing winds, connecting open spaces and prioritizing open spaces near water bodies.