Cutting-Edge Technologies for Air Conditioning and Cold Production

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change has already effected the cooling demand in colder climate zones, and it is making warmer regions requite a significant increase of refrigeration and cooling loads in industrial facilities and buildings. Indeed, air conditioning has accounted for nearly 20 per cent of total electricity demand in buildings around the world in recent years. Furthermore, it is growing faster than any other energy consumption in the residential and tertiary sector and is expected to triple by 2050.

According to the Cooling Emissions and Policy Synthesis Report 2020, such a growing cooling demand will negatively affect global warming due to the emissions of HFCs used in standard compression air conditioning systems widely used, and from CO2 emissions attributable to electricity production to supply such class of cooling systems.

Emerging economies will play the lion’s share in such an expected rise in space-cooling energy demand: In some of these countries, 30% of total energy consumption in buildings is attributable to space cooling and can reach 50–60% during the summer peaks, putting a strain on the capacity of the local electricity grids.

In such a scenario, cutting-edge technologies for air conditioning and cold production can facilitate the transition to environment-friendly and renewable-energy-based systems. Moreover, such advanced technologies could allow an increase in cooling access, contributing to the achievements of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) identified by the United Nations.

We are pleased to invite researchers in the fields of advanced cooling technologies to submit their research and review articles on the latest research advances in the sector and to contribute to this Special Issue. The aim of this issue is to spread the knowledge of the ongoing research and latest technological and scientific achievements in this field.

Dr. Salvatore Vasta
Guest Editor

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