• WRD founder, Stephen Gill.
    WRD founder, Stephen Gill.
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Global celebrations will be held on 26 June for World Refrigeration Day (WRD).

The event celebrates the people and technologies responsible for creating and maintaining the world we live in, a world dependent upon temperature-controlled environments.

This year’s theme is Next Generation Cooling with the focus on the future of cooling technology, the industry, the people working within it, and those that benefit from cooling. 

WRD organisers said it builds on last year’s theme Cooling Matters.

This 2023 theme will raise awareness about how the modern cooling industry is adapting and evolving to meet the challenges and opportunities the sector faces to provide low carbon cooling and heating solutions in a warming climate.

Next generation cooling is important because it can help reduce the energy consumption and carbon emissions of cooling systems, which are becoming more widely used as the world gets hotter and more humid.  

2023 WRD logo promoting Next Generation Cooling.
2023 WRD logo promoting Next Generation Cooling.

For example, according to the International Energy Agency, air conditioners account for nearly 20 per cent of the total electricity used in buildings around the world today, and their use is set to soar over the next three decades, becoming one of the top drivers of global electricity demand.

WRD founder, Stephen Gill, said it is the climate control workforce that is supporting next generation cooling.

“As an industry, we need to recruit, train and retain people equipped with the knowledge and skills that a modern, forward-thinking industry requires,” Gill said.

“Just as no-one will expect the cooling solutions we supply in the future to be the same as those from the past, no-one should expect the workforce to be the same either.

“This year’s campaign is an opportunity to showcase what we are doing now to ensure we have the diverse, highly skilled workforce that our future industry needs.

“The future is in our hands. Next Generation Cooling will tell the story of how our wellbeing depends upon sustainable cooling and heating, and how cooling technology choices and an evolving industry can safeguard the well-being of future generations.”

Join the global community conversation using the hashtags #NextGenCooling and WREFD23.