Engineering news
Capitalising on the increasing global business demand for coldness could see ten thousand jobs created in the next 10 years, a new report claims.
The Carbon Trust said that in the next decade the demand for cooling in everything from supermarkets to computer data centres could boom to create huge growth in the "cold economy".
The UK's energy policy has been too focused on transport, electricity and heat, without looking at the benefits that could be gained from solving the nation's cooling needs, it argues in The Emerging Cold Economy.
The report says that with investment Britain has the potential to lead the way because of low carbon cold technologies already being developed and "world-class capabilities in cryogenics, engineering, manufacturing and finance".
David Sanders, director of innovation at the Carbon Trust, said: "Turning the cold economy from an idea into reality will depend on joined-up thinking and collaboration by industry, academia and government to develop, test and deploy novel solutions.
"With Britain's rich history of innovation and engineering, we have a real opportunity to lead the way in low carbon cold technologies and drive innovative solutions from the lab to the market."
The report argues that cooling consumes up to 14% of the country's electricity, and the combined annual cost of electric and transport cooling is more than £5 billion.
Outside the UK the opportunities are even greater, it argues, with estimates that up to half of perishable food in developing countries rots before getting to market because of a lack of refrigeration.
The Carbon Trust also pointed to India, where the government is forecasting a need for 15 billion dollars to be spent on its "cold chain" over the next five years, and China, where cold storage capacity is set to increase 20-fold in the next two years.
It suggests investment be made in research, increasing manufacturing output ability of new technologies, and in apprenticeships and training.
There is already a Midlands "centre of excellence", it says, including several companies and the Universities of Loughborough and Birmingham, the latter of which has a Centre for Cryogenic Energy Research.
Professor Richard Williams, head of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Birmingham University, said: "Delivering cold to where it is most needed requires research across technical, business and policy areas.
"For example, the development of new materials and processes for efficient and cost-effective cooling and the creation of business systems models that seek to recognise the 'value' of cold. This will result in the creation of new policies for the UK and internationally."