Ecosphere News | Climate and Environment
As global temperatures rise and demand for air conditioning and refrigeration grows, climate-friendly cooling technologies are emerging as important tools for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy efficiency and protecting people from extreme heat.
From innovative surfaces that release heat into space to refrigerants with lower climate impacts and underground thermal energy storage, a range of solutions could help meet the world's growing cooling needs without adding significantly to global warming. However, experts emphasize that technological innovation must be accompanied by stronger climate policies, cleaner electricity, efficient buildings and a rapid reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Passive Cooling: Releasing Heat Without Electricity
One promising approach is Passive Daytime Radiative Cooling (PDRC), which uses specially engineered surfaces and films to reflect incoming sunlight while emitting heat as infrared radiation through parts of the atmosphere that allow it to escape into space.
Under suitable weather and atmospheric conditions, these materials can cool surfaces below the surrounding air temperature without consuming electricity for the cooling process itself. Such technology could help reduce the need for conventional air conditioning in buildings and support cooling applications in industry.
Companies including SkyCool Systems are developing radiative-cooling technologies for commercial applications. Their systems can help reject heat from buildings and refrigeration equipment, potentially reducing electricity consumption. Actual performance depends on the design, local climate, humidity, cloud cover and installation conditions.
Refrigerant-Free Cooling: Exploring New Technologies
Conventional air conditioners and refrigerators generally rely on vapour-compression systems. Although these systems provide essential cooling services, their climate impact can be substantial when they consume carbon-intensive electricity or leak refrigerants with high global warming potential.
Researchers are exploring alternatives, including ionocaloric cooling, which uses the movement of ions to drive changes in a material's phase and absorb or release heat. Other emerging approaches use solid-state caloric materials that respond to changes in electric or magnetic fields, pressure or mechanical stress.
These technologies could eventually reduce dependence on conventional refrigerants and improve cooling efficiency. However, many remain at the research or early-development stage, and further work is needed to demonstrate their affordability, durability, scalability and performance in everyday applications.
Natural Refrigerants Offer Lower-Impact Alternatives
A further priority is replacing high-global-warming-potential refrigerants with alternatives that have a lower climate impact.
Natural refrigerants such as ammonia, carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons can provide effective cooling with substantially lower direct climate impacts than many conventional hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). However, each option has specific safety and engineering requirements: ammonia is toxic, some hydrocarbons are flammable, and carbon dioxide systems operate at relatively high pressures.
The environmental benefits of these alternatives depend on proper equipment design, installation, maintenance, refrigerant management and energy efficiency. Improving existing cooling systems and preventing refrigerant leakage are also essential parts of the transition.
Geothermal Cooling and Thermal Energy Storage
Geothermal systems use relatively stable underground temperatures to help cool buildings, while thermal energy storage allows cooling to be produced or stored at one time and used later.
For example, ice-storage systems can produce ice during periods of lower electricity demand and use it to provide cooling during peak hours. This can reduce pressure on electricity grids and help integrate renewable energy into cooling systems.
Ground-source heat pumps can also improve building energy performance by transferring heat between buildings and the ground. Their effectiveness depends on local geology, system design, installation costs and operating conditions.
These solutions could be particularly valuable in commercial buildings, hotels, hospitals, industrial facilities and other places with substantial cooling requirements.
Solar Radiation Management: A Controversial Climate Intervention
At a much larger scale, Solar Radiation Management (SRM) proposes reflecting a small proportion of incoming sunlight to reduce the amount of solar energy absorbed by Earth.
One widely discussed approach is stratospheric aerosol injection, which would introduce reflective particles into the upper atmosphere to partially mimic the cooling effect of major volcanic eruptions.
However, SRM remains highly controversial. It would not remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or stop ocean acidification. Its potential effects on regional rainfall, monsoons, ecosystems and food production remain uncertain, while governance, international consent and the consequences of abruptly stopping a deployment raise serious concerns.
For countries such as Nepal, where communities depend on monsoon rainfall and mountain ecosystems, any possible effects on regional precipitation would be particularly important to assess. SRM should not be confused with established building-cooling technologies, and it is not a substitute for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
International Commitments Supporting Climate-Friendly Cooling
Two international initiatives are helping shape the global cooling transition.
The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, adopted in 2016, provides for the gradual phase-down of HFCs. These chemicals have been widely used in refrigeration and air conditioning because they do not deplete the ozone layer, but many have a powerful warming effect. Phasing them down, alongside improving energy efficiency, can deliver significant climate benefits.
The Global Cooling Pledge, launched at COP28 in 2023, calls on participating countries to work towards reducing cooling-related emissions by at least 68% by 2050 relative to 2022 levels. It also promotes stronger energy-efficiency standards, wider access to sustainable cooling and the adoption of climate-friendly technologies.
Meeting these ambitions will require investment, effective policies, improved appliance standards, skilled technicians, better refrigerant management and access to affordable cooling solutions.
What Climate-Friendly Cooling Means for Nepal
For Nepal, sustainable cooling presents both a climate opportunity and a development challenge. Rising temperatures, urbanisation and growing demand for refrigeration and air conditioning make it increasingly important to improve cooling efficiency while expanding access to reliable energy.
Passive building design, shading, reflective roofs, natural ventilation, efficient heat pumps, solar-powered cooling and appropriate thermal-storage systems could help reduce energy demand in suitable settings. Climate-friendly refrigeration could also benefit hospitals, food supply chains, agricultural storage and tourism facilities.
Policy measures should encourage efficient appliances, responsible refrigerant management, appropriate building standards and technical training. Particular attention is needed to ensure that low-income households and vulnerable communities can access cooling without facing unaffordable energy costs.
A Sustainable Cooling Future Requires More Than Technology
Climate cooling technologies offer promising ways to reduce emissions while protecting people from extreme heat. Yet no single solution can address every cooling challenge.
The most effective strategy combines energy efficiency, passive design, low-impact refrigerants, cleaner electricity, responsible equipment management and carefully planned infrastructure. Large-scale climate interventions such as SRM require a separate and much more cautious assessment because their environmental and governance risks remain unresolved.
As the world confronts rising temperatures, the goal should be clear: provide reliable and affordable cooling while reducing the climate footprint of the systems on which people increasingly depend.
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