World Refrigeration Day (26 June) is an excellent opportunity to reflect on the role of refrigeration in ensuring inclusive and sustainable development across the globe, and on the expertise required to design systems that are both effective and environmentally friendly.
Access to refrigeration is essential to healthy lives and livelihoods, as it can help keep produce fresh, vaccines safe, and unlock the potential for income generation. However, given that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the cooling sector are predicted to double by 2050, it’s vital that refrigeration becomes as environmentally friendly as possible. Yet, for millions living in off- and weak-grid communities across Sub-Saharan Africa, this is out of reach.
Per person, GHG emissions directly related to food loss are higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than anywhere else in the world. Strengthening cold chain management in this region could help reduce these emissions by two-thirds. However, limited access to reliable grid electricity in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa means that communities in remote and rural areas lack the cooling infrastructure needed to preserve fresh produce.
As the world races to meet climate goals, we must ensure that access to sustainable cooling is universal. That means that we need to help people design smarter, simpler, and more sustainable cooling systems.
Why life cycle assessment matters
This is where life cycle assessment (LCA) can be essential. LCA enables designers and manufacturers to evaluate a product’s environmental footprint across its entire life – from raw material extraction to disposal. But to be effective, it must reflect local conditions. That requires the ability to collect granular local data, adapt global models to local realities, and interpret the results to inform design decisions.
Our multidisciplinary team deployed LCA as a decision-making tool in real time to develop the world’s most sustainable solar-powered cold room to date in Homa Bay, Western Kenya. Gaining rapid insights into the cold room’s environmental impact helped the design team to iterate quickly and refine the systems set-up efficiently.
Successful life cycle assessment involves not only technical expertise and proficiency in analysis, but also superior communications skills to enable close collaboration between engineers, data analysts, field partners and local suppliers. For example, many assessments assume that a significant proportion of batteries are recycled or refurbished. In Sub-Saharan Africa, however, battery refurbishment is still in its infancy. Most batteries end up in landfills, skewing the actual GHG savings from secondary battery use. Allowing for these realities requires both deep local knowledge and robust technical modelling.
To create truly sustainable solutions, we must improve data specificity. That means using country-level data where possible and factoring in local conditions. Only then can we assess the environmental footprint of cooling technologies accurately and make informed decisions.
Designing for simplicity and sustainability
By using real-time LCA to assess options, the team achieved a cold room design that reduced life cycle GHG emissions by 63% and costs by 20% compared to the existing best-in-class cold room. These improvements were driven by:
- Sustainable insulation materials: Using biogenic sandwich panels with moisture-release features and locally available materials such as straw bales, timber and eco-boards reduce emissions and improve repairability.
- Efficient system set up: The cold room’s solar photovoltaic (PV) and energy storage system means that the room does not use electricity from the grid or diesel generators. However, manufacturing the elements required causes greenhouse gas emissions, so the solar system was designed to ensure that the cold room would fulfil user requirements with an optimised combination of PV panels, batteries, thermal storage and insulation thickness that has the smallest possible carbon footprint.
- Natural refrigerants: Ultra-low GWP refrigerants are used within the refrigeration system, which is also integrated with an evaporative cooler to increase the system’s overall efficiency and minimise environmental impact.
- Short, local supply chains: Avoiding materials that required air freight further lowered emissions while supporting the local economy. .
The skills behind sustainable cooling
While technological innovation is an important aspect of enabling sustainable refrigeration, success really depends on the skills of the teams involved – from designers and architects to technicians – as demonstrated by this project. As World Refrigeration Day emphasises, it’s this community of skilled professionals that is truly propelling access to sustainable cooling.
A call to action
To design and scale sustainable cooling solutions, it’s critical that we invest in the skills needed to make them a reality. We call on companies and innovators to:
- Use LCA as a decision-making tool from the outset, not just for post-project validation – and invest in the skills needed to do so.
- Support the development of local expertise to improve data specificity and avoid global averages in LCA calculations.
- Design for simplicity and resilience, using natural materials, local knowledge, and optimisation tools to reduce costs and emissions.
By combining technical innovation with informed design choices, we can ensure that sustainable refrigeration improves lives and livelihoods worldwide.
You can read the report ‘Designing for Sustainability: Blueprint for a Low-Carbon Cold Room’ here.
The cold room pilot was supported by Siemens Cents4Sense initiative with the facilitation of Siemens Stiftung and the Efficiency for Access Research and Development Fund, which is financed by UK aid from the UK government via the Transforming Energy Access platform and the IKEA Foundation.
As part of its work on the Low Energy Inclusive Appliances (LEIA) programme, Energy Saving Trust, co-Secretariat of Efficiency for Access, will be elevating access to sustainable cooling as a strategic communications theme with the initiative Sustainable Cooling Impact: Improving Lives and Livelihoods. This will highlight the incredible innovators working to improve access to sustainable cooling in low-income and underserved communities. If you would like to learn more, please email Sarah Hambly (sarah.hambly@est.org.uk).
Sarah Hambly, Senior Communications and Engagement Manager, Energy Saving Trust, co-Secretariat of Efficiency for Access, Jakub Vrba, Senior Research Lead, Energy Saving Trust, co-Secretariat of Efficiency for Access, Stuart Walker, Research Fellow, University of Sheffield, Victor Torres, Founder and CEO, Solar Cooling Engineering,