Hey everyone and welcome to our amazing podcast of the Future of Cooling Programme here at the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford.
My name is Patrick Fine, postdoctoral researcher with a background in health economics.
And I'm joined today by Dr. Susan Alexander, our Marie Curie fellow who has a background in architecture and engineering.
Hello, everyone. So nice to have you here.
And in short, the future of Cooling programme at the Oxford Martin School is on the one hand looking at the impact of heat on health.
And on the other hand on the built environment. But why are we actually here today?
Now, this podcast episode is the second in a series of very exciting episodes.
And as a side note, I truly recommend also having a listen to the first episode,
which includes our programme director, Dr. Radhika Khosla, in today's episode.
Specifically, we will present in detail the different challenges the cooling sector is facing and how the future
of cooling team of researchers is addressing these challenges through their work by Patrick.
We are not alone, right? No, not at all. Yes.
As a matter of fact, we have a group of very exciting people with us, namely all of the research associate of the programme.
So please let us introduce to you Dr. Nicole Miranda,
a fellow in the Engineering Science Department who has a background in chemical engineering energy systems.
And we also have Dr. Giovanni Palafox,
a contact with us at Research in the School of Geography and the Environment and who has expertise in civil engineering and the circular economy.
Hi, Giovanni. I know also Dr. Holly, fellow in the Engineering Science Department who has a background in control engineering on energy systems.
And Dr. Antonella Mason, postdoctoral researcher with a background in humanities working on cooling behaviours and cooling cultures.
Welcome to all. Thanks and thank you. Now.
What's the future of Cooling programme about? So before we start chatting about all the heat and cooling challenges.
We better mention a few key facts about the future of cooling programme.
So what do you think is important to mention?
Well, Patrick, uh, apart from the gold we had in the programme, there are quite a few interesting facts that I can mention.
For a start. We are the first and only multidisciplinary programme in the world focussing on cooling.
I think that this is a quite impressive fact.
We focus on many aspects of engineering, on cooling technologies, on architecture and the built environment,
on geography, chemistry, the fate of human health and the economy.
And as a group through top level research,
the future of clean parents working together to understand and shape the cooling sector with a long term aim to support sustainable,
sustainable development. Well, Chris, thanks a lot for this interesting introduction.
But but can you tell our listeners why all of this is actually important?
And what are the most important challenges we face in terms of cooling?
I believe that A.C. way to understand this challenge is to divide the impact of heat in terms of symptoms and problems.
Let's start with the symptoms. We refer to symptoms as all the consequences related to a stroke.
It is specifically the consequences that are fed in our society, the economy and the environment.
For example, look at the societal impact of a stroke in terms of increased risks to mortality or morbidity,
or think about the potential impact of hit on the infrastructure.
He on a sample, for example, is the impact of cooling in the power system due to the higher energy consumption for cooling.
And in the case of the economy, he can generate productivity losses and can negatively affect economic specific economic sectors,
such as to receive adequate or health services.
From an environmental point of view,
he will increase the greenhouse gas emissions associated with cooling system and can also dramatically reduce the amenity of the environment.
On the other hand related to problems with effective blown out two problems after a reading or the string heat
situations where France we find that global warming increasing the frequency and intensity of heat events.
Second after we find the city overheating and the building overheating, both due to an appropriate design of the built environment.
And finally, the growing demand for cooling, for energy, for cooling, to create comfort, for to great comfort for people as separate.
Even more the contribution to climate change. Unnecessary heat.
Thanks for these inside cases and I can see that the challenges around cooling are quite extensive, affecting many areas and disciplines.
Totally, Patrick. You know, I think that one way to understand whether what we are doing in terms of addressing these
challenges is to actually have a chat room with the researcher in the Future Queen programme.
Indeed, in these cases. Let's start with this straight away, shall we?
Nicole, how about we start with you? Hey, Nicole. Hi.
Thanks for having me. Very nice to have you with us.
Okay. Let's start with the first question. What's your work actually about?
So I'm working in the engineering department in the University of Oxford, and I have three areas of interest.
The first is passive cooling system. So what is their potential?
How can we upskill them? And this is quite important because it can help reduce the demand for active systems.
So air conditioners and it it helps avoiding them altogether in some places.
But also when it's when passive systems are coupled with ACS, they can also reduce their energy consumption.
My second topic of interest is understanding the effect of F gases on global warming.
So F gases are fluorinated gases which are used as refrigerants, specifically HFCS in active technology.
And when these are leaked into the atmosphere, they cause enormous warming.
Well, that's what I'm actually looking into. What is that warming up they're causing because they have reported very high global warming potentials.
But I'm looking into the tools to assess that in a better way, the tools and metrics to see what their actual contributions are.
Finally, my third topic is on the future cooling demand.
So we're working with some collaborators in geography here at the university that have very detailed models
of climate and that will allow us to assess how the world will evolve in terms of their cooling needs.
And one of the most interesting findings from the work so far.
So I think one underpinning topic is the search for metrics.
So let's see, in the talking about passive cooling,
there isn't metrics that allows us to compare the performance of one passive cooling, for example, shading to ventilation.
It's really hard to to find metrics because they are bespoke.
They're made according to a building and not necessarily as technology that you just buy off the shelf like an air conditioners.
Air conditioners have the clock number coefficient of performance.
So in a way you can start understanding how efficient they are, how and see which one is better than the other.
But that's that kind of metric is missing in the world of passive cooling.
And it's something that is very difficult to to conceptualise.
Another example of the lack of metrics is within the world of F gases.
So when I'm looking at their impact on global warming, the the common metric that we use today is the gwp global warming potential,
which standardises the emissions based on carbon dioxide.
However, refrigerants have a much shorter life in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide,
but a much more higher impact of global warming radiative forcing.
So we need to look at metrics that actually capture those that nature of refrigerants.
And and so that's that's some findings so far.
Thanks. Nicole, this is very interesting. But tell me a bit more about how your work actually contributes to shaping the future of schooling.
So I think by looking from a technological perspective, a first contribution is awareness of technological alternatives.
And looking at passive systems usually think, Oh, they're low tech, they're just shading or opening the window.
But actually there's pretty high tech out there,
like radiative panels or painting or in smart systems that allow for passive cooling to actually take place in a smart way.
So creating awareness is a is an important part of it, but then a step up from there is informing policy.
And so if we inform our politicians, our representatives, that this is a pressing matter, that this demand for coding is actually on the rise,
and we give them the figures and we give them the information that they need to make smart and smart decisions for our future.
Then we actually might have a shot at kerbing the global warming and while keeping people comfortable around thermal comfort.
Thanks a lot. Thanks for being with us today. Hey, Antonella, it's very nice to have you here today with us.
And I will start straightaway with the first question.
So what's your topic about AI research, cooling behaviours and cooling cultures, especially those behavioural strategies that are very low carbon?
And so like for example, how people keep their body cools without the use of air conditioning or even fans.
So I investigate the role of culture, the role of knowledge specifically,
also indigenous knowledge and vernacular one and intergenerational knowledge.
So that type of tips that grandmothers will eventually person in the next generation and see effectively how they can help the body to cool.
So these spanned from clothing but also food and other behavioural strategies and hydrate practise to keep the body cool with very low energy most.
And why is that important? Well, I think that, you know, we live in a society where access to electricity and also AC is growing.
But at the same time, there is a rampant climate change.
And so we need to tackle energy consumption at the maximum, because energy is obviously the main culprit of change.
And therefore, with our behavioural strategies and going back into to understanding how previous
generations and our ancient cultures used to keep cool before would be great impact,
especially in energy consumption. Household energy consumption.
And could you give us a taste of the most interesting findings from your research up to date?
Yes, basically during my and I'm just gathering the latest data from Brazil where I conducted a virtual ethnography.
And I see that people tend to drink specific herbal teas that they found very effective in keeping their body cool.
And also, they they used to wear some wet clothes when they go out.
They used to go out with wet hair as well, so that the heat of the street will not have an impact on heat, stress, etc.
Obviously, these are specific to each context and maybe they cannot be translated to every culture in the world.
But I think that with a little bit of, you know, understanding of each other's culture,
maybe there is something that we can learn and reproduce in each specific context.
So I know that in Europe, for example, such practises might be seen as they might not welcome this practise.
But I'm sure that with some tweaks there is something that we can learn and apply.
And the last question I have for you is how does your work contribute to shaping the future of cooling?
But I think that you cannot go forward without looking at the past.
So I think that discovering some sort of archaeology of knowledge or schooling practises, especially in very hot countries,
can give us the light towards and shaping the future of cooling in a non technological way,
especially if we triangulate some findings with some medical advice, etc. We might find that a specific food can help us to stimulate regulate better.
Therefore, I'm shaping the future of cooling.
If I discover that, Hey, thank you so much for being on the podcast and all the best and we look forward to seeing more of your research.
Thank you for having me. See you. Okay.
Bye bye. In a. Jesus. Should we move on and ask Joanna a few questions?
Yes, let's. Let's go with Giovanni now. Giovanni, what is your word talking about?
Well, first of all, thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be in this podcast.
Okay. So I am working on the global production networks of cooling,
basically trying to understand and identify the intensities on the Oval Office of cooling appliances, all the manufacturing around the world.
So in other words, it means that I'm trying to find sustainable intervention points in the supply chain and the whole lifecycle of cooling equipment.
But I'm also looking at the innovative business models that align with circular economy principles for the delivery of cooling,
such as clean as a service. And finally, there is some overlap with Nicole's work on engineering around the efficaces used as refrigerants,
so I'm very interested in also capturing them properly before they damage the environment further.
Well, I think that the contribution of the cooling system based on the efficacies to mitigate air cooling is really amazing.
Giovanni, how can you describe why is that important?
Yes, sure. I can give a couple of points here. First of all, I'll start with given the accelerating increase in demand for cooling equipment,
there will be massive challenges in terms of regional security.
So, for example, the manufacturing, the energy use and the appropriate waste management at the end of life of the appliances,
that means whether they are recycled through manufacturer or another alternative is very important.
That also aligns with the efficaces that I just mentioned.
They need to be collected to avoid their release in the atmosphere.
And the second point, and I would like to give a couple of figures here is that globally there is a total of 11 megatons
of waste from electrical equipment being generated in every year and only around 70% of that.
Obviously, that varies across countries and type of equipment.
Only that 70% is being documented and collected properly.
This represents a massive challenge, an opportunity to close the loop, to advance the circular economy for cooling.
And on another point, I would say that the separate taxation of cooling saves, first of all types energy upfront costs and material utilisation.
So, for example, as it incentivises the service providers to improve efficiency and technology innovation.
So to become a sustainable cooling option.
While it seems that there is a huge amount of work to do in order to mitigate the the impact of cooling with this circular economy.
And Giovanni, what are the most interesting findings of insights from your work so far?
Yeah, that of course, I'll give a couple of examples.
So I would like to start with policies across the monitoring of clean waste,
for example, with the recovery of refrigerants or the disposal of appliances.
These are very still in development. So, for example, they need to work in communication and in synergy.
The first example is the banning of certain gases in the EU legislation in 2016.
It was a great step, but however, this created the conditions for the labour market to emerge because we have so many existing units
that actually need to keep running and they need those refrigerant gases that have been banned.
And second, there are lots of legal activities related to cooling that are not sufficiently documented.
One of them is the illegal trade of HFCs, as I just mentioned.
Another one is some illegal dumping and trade of less efficient and high global warming potential appliances.
So especially the countries from the global north are selling this cheap and very obsolete technologies to the global south.
And also there is a massive illegal disposal of cooling waste.
So that means one that basically abandoned flytipping and landfill.
Well, I think that there is it is very powerful to know that these illegal activities in the college sector, how we can mitigate this impact.
And Giovanni, how how does your work contribute to the shaping of the future of schooling?
How do you think that you are contributing for this purpose?
Sure. I'll give just three very quick examples.
And one of them is by helping to move to sustainable manufacturing,
we can contribute to net zero and probably humbly handling this appliances at the end of the life so that we can situated within a circular economy.
Second, with quitting as a service, we can help end users or consumers have access to quitting, especially to the most vulnerable ones.
And we have a case example of farmers in Nigeria benefiting from this.
And thirdly, by controlling the ED classes, as Nicole just mentioned, we can also help to slow down global warming.
Well, thank you. Thank you very much, Geronimo, for your feedback with these these questions.
It's my pleasure. It's very useful to understand, I think, to trust me to.
Well, what you all are doing. Shall we go next?
Yes. Shall we invite the choir? Hey, nice to have you with us today.
Hi, Patrick. Nice to meet you. And that's why having me today. Of course.
Our pleasure. Shall we start?
What's your topic about? Yes. First up, so I'm looking at Department of Engineering Societies and University Austria.
And my focus is on developing tools to provide and map diverse enquiries about concrete technologies.
In particular, my research involved passive and active coring technologies to address heat cause in buildings and cities.
So your focus is on buildings and cities.
Why is that important? Yeah, you know, partly our planet, a warming population, urbanisation and economy are rising.
So cooling demand is increasing. There are many cooling options available in research and markets to serve.
Cooling makes efficiently and environmentally friendly.
However, where that where the greatest techno technical innovations could be made for interventions in a way understood when we condition,
we consider climatic condition, economic and topographical factors.
And one of the most interesting findings, insights from from your work so far.
I mean, you have only recently joined. Yes, sir. But yeah, you have only recently joined us.
But maybe you can give us a taste of some initial findings from your work.
Yes, actually, I see there are two very interesting findings.
So far we've seen lifestyle work here. The fuzzy to cool the whole city of big picture advanced technologies would be applied with vertical approach,
meaning that reducing heat at Urban Square should be considered first,
using technologies of that solar radiation and heat protection,
and then reducing core in these buildings by using passive technologies followed by self recovery, by efficient technologies or equipment.
And the second interesting two findings would be the cooling technologies with high maturity.
So test absorption absorption is a great tip canaries.
So with potential to replace vapour compression.
AC using high global warming potential refrigerants.
So just actually refrigerants and packaging.
And and let's look into the future for a second. How do you think your work will contribute to shaping the future of cooling?
Yes. As the energy needed for air conditioning e likely to treat warm by 2050,
rising demand for space cooling is already putting enormous strain on energy city system in many countries and driving up emissions.
You see that.
So therefore, mapping and understanding technologies which can beat the heat in buildings and city efficiently and environmental friendly,
are paramount importance to shape the future of cooling.
Thank you very much for these insights. And we will look we look very much forward to seeing more of this work coming out and in the near future.
And what about you cases? What can you tell us about your work?
Yes, of course. I mean, and in my case, they have on this strong motivation about how can mitigate the impact of heat in cities.
You know, my background is architecture, building, engineering.
Knight comes from a very hungry going.
The soft Spain's from from Seville where I have suffered most of my life the consequences of his or of a string heap.
In this case my work is focussing on how to help cities to identify all violent hotspots or or overheated
urban areas where city council should provide retrofitting action to mitigate the impact of heat.
And why is that important? This is very important in order to mitigate our problem.
No about Iceland's. This concept is associated with all about areas that are significantly warmer than the surrounding rural areas.
In these areas, the urban temperature can be up to four degrees higher, for example,
in the city of London or even up to 60 feet higher in comparison with the surrounding rural areas.
This last situation was, for example, last summer in the city of of of seven, where I come from.
And have you done any work on those two cities where you could share maybe some findings with us or any other findings?
Interesting coming out from your research so far. Yes, I think even that and the most interesting contribution that we are doing right now,
we are testing this contribution in these two cities and we are developing a development
tool to monitor and mark the urban climate at the highest possible temporal resolution.
We are testing this mapping tool in these two cities.
The target here is to identify all of it relatives, something very challenging inside.
It's very difficult to get urban climate data. Most weather data that we use to isolate weather every day comes from meteorological weather stations
located in rural urban areas whose data are not representative of the urban climate are his province.
So in this case, we are trying to develop this tool and the testing the tool in this real environment to try to measure the accuracy,
how we can mitigate this these all about overheating problem.
And how is that tool contributing to shaping the future of cooling?
Hopefully and or target is to develop this tool in order to to how to water city around the world to identify these or
about hot spots where cities or the city council supervise all the retrofitting actions to improve the quality of life,
wellbeing of cities, citizens. Wow.
That would be very, very helpful in terms of mitigating the impact of heat in the built environment.
We hope so. But. But what about your work?
Badly. We are always showing our contribution to the future of Clean by within ahead of all your world cooling.
What is your topic about energy?
Well, in a nutshell, I and my colleagues, we are estimating the health effects and health care system burden of cold waves and heat waves in England.
And and we will use patient data from primary and secondary care to look at
the impact of changes in ambient temperature on the full health care chain,
including GP visits, secondary care referrals, hospitalisation.
And also we also look at mortality data and here the analysis will also include a costing perspective where we
look at the estimated direct health care costs to the NHS in England correlated to changes in temperatures.
And why is that important, Patrick? Well, first of all, the heat and associated heat stress can increase mortality and morbidity.
The second point is it is a well-established fact that that heat stress negatively impacts physical work capacity.
So this in turn has consequences on productivity and plus additionally can add to the risk of occupational health problems.
And these two issues, negative health and productivity losses will affect half of the global population, including 1 billion workers.
Wow. That's is true even today. You know, before we have our very warm day when I don't feel that even here.
What are the most interesting findings from your work, Patrick? Well, first, with regard to feeling very less productive today because of the heat,
that might also be a consequence of us all having a really nice lunch today at the pump,
but giving you an actual answer to your question and give him an increase in temperatures
over the upcoming years without investment in sustainable cooling technologies,
issues around heat related morbidity and mortality will likely exacerbate.
And how does that contribute to shaping the future of cooling?
Well, so the work contributes to shaping the future of cooling in an indirect sense of what the starting point
here would be to develop sustainable cooling technologies for which you guys are more responsible,
maybe at the household or city level. And the next step would be that we need to make sure that individuals most at.
Risk of negative health effects from heat. Have access to these technologies.
And then to persuade policymakers about, for example, the provision of such technologies to vulnerable population groups.
And I believe one can then consider such technologies as some sort of health technology subject to health technology assessment.
And if it turns out that such technologies cost effective is a cost effective health intervention,
it should be provided by the government to to prevent increased access, morbidity and mortality as a consequence of heat.
Wow. So powerful your word. Patrick, thank you very much for this insights.
Patrick. With this. We have reached the end of the session by looking forward to discussing other issues related to cooling.
And please remember to.