Technologies that keep us cool are among the biggest guzzlers of energy in Southeast Asia.
As the region gets richer and more populous, cooling systems are set to account for 40 per cent of Southeast Asia’s electricity demand by 2040.
At Singapore International Energy Week last year, Fatih Birol, president of the International Energy Agency, called cooling the global energy market’s “biggest blind spot” as the world works out how to de-carbonise in the wake of a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that revealed humanity has about a decade to reverse global warming or else face dire consequences.
But can people in the tropics really be expected to live without cooling as temperatures rise? If not, how can we provide affordable, efficient cooling that doesn’t cost the Earth?
In the fourth episode of Tomorrow’s cities: Engineering the energy transition, Eco-Business sat down with David MacKerness, director, business development for cooling-as-a-service company Kaer, and Soren Kvorning, president, Asia Pacific, for engineering firm Danfoss, to discuss better ways to keep cool as the planet warms up.
