WRD 2023: The future is in our hands

World Refrigeration Day has announced its theme for 2023: “Next Generation Cooling: The Future is in our hands”.

World Refrigeration Day celebrates the people and technologies responsible for creating and maintaining a world dependent upon temperature-controlled environments. Taking place on June 26, the event is supported globally by industry, professional groups, scientific and engineering associations, as well as by governments and individuals.

The WRD 23 campaign, “Next Generation Cooling” will focus on the future of cooling technology, the industry, the people working within it, and those that benefit from cooling.  Building upon last year’s theme “Cooling Matters”, this year’s campaign will look forward with the aim of raising awareness of how the modern cooling industry is adapting and evolving to meet the challenges and opportunities the sector faces in satisfying the increasing demand for 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,” say the organisers.

“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.”

The theme also recognises the vital role that the HVAC&R workforce will play.

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

“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.

“We encourage the whole refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pump industry to join us in celebrating World Refrigeration Day 2023. Join the global community conversation using the hashtags #NextGenCooling and WREFD23.”

More information about World Refrigeration Day is available at the official website.

AIRAH also has a page dedicated to WRD activities in Australia.

Photo by Billy Pasco on Unsplash