Sustainable Cooling: Building Resilience to Extreme Heat

Summary

Module 0: Getting started

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During this module, you will meet your fellow learners and the Facilitator who will be providing support to you throughout your studies. You will learn more about what the course offers and how to navigate through it. You’ll also have the chance to tell your peers more about yourself by answering the questions and posting to the discussion board.

Summary

Module 1: Cooling for sustainable development

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This module introduces the relevance of cooling across multiple aspects of contemporary life. You will discuss why cooling is a growing issue of concern across regions and organisations and explore how cooling is linked to all the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

On completion, you will be better able to:

• assess the changing context and applications of cooling, including the growing trends of extreme heat, and the growing relevance of cooling in international policy debates and agreements;
• analyse the relationship between cooling and sustainability across different contexts; and
• apply a systematic approach towards cooling.

Summary

Module 2: Rising extreme heat

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This module will reflect on the climate science behind rising extreme heat, its growing frequency and intensity, and how it is projected to be the largest killer of all extreme weather events. You will explore the role of climate change and the urban heat island contributing to the cooling issue, using Climate Degree Days (CDD) models to describe how classifications of climatic zones are changing and which parts of the world are predicted to get the hottest. You’ll also examine how heatwaves evolve and are managed, including heat actions plans.

On completion, you will be better able to:

• identify the primary drivers and issues of heat globally;
• use vocabulary and metrics necessary for describing cooling issues e.g. CDD, absolute and relative humidity, heat waves;
• effectively communicate climatic zones and how they are changing as the planet gets hotter;
• recognise the main topics needed to be covered in heat actions plans for country and city scale; and
• effectively communicate issues and solutions at local levels (cities and neighbourhoods).

Summary

Module 3: The built environment

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This module takes a deep dive into challenges for infrastructure design, focusing on sustainable cooling environments. You will explore the implication on cities and buildings for achieving thermal comfort (outdoor and indoor) and think critically about approaches to sustainable and heat resilience cities.

On completion, you will be better able to:

• identify the factors influencing heat exposure and cooling needs in the built environment;
• compare and analyse the different indicators to measure heat exposure and cooling needs in buildings;
• analyse the different policy tools available to support infrastructure design;
• identify the existing barriers in current infrastructure design procedures; and
• justify a building design following the right steps to address sustainable cooling.

Summary

Module 4: Cultures of cooling

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This module will focus on the individual, social and societal elements of cooling – starting by exploring the numerous factors determining consumption patterns for cooling. There will be a focus on the transition to sustainable cooling and levers for change.

On completion, you will be better able to:

• describe the lifestyle factors and behaviour influencing consumption patterns for cooling e.g., indoor/outdoor, population/individual preferences, location, cities, health, age, food;
• compare behavioural and cultural approaches to individual cooling indoors and outdoors across different geographies;
• assess the institutional mechanisms in support to adaptive thermal comfort buildings; and
• identify the existing barriers in equitable thermal comfort in public spaces.

Summary

Module 5: Health and productivity

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This module starts with the heat-health nexus and moves from the physiological and behavioural factors to mortality. The second section focuses on productivity through the lens of economics and the losses and growth impacts of heatwaves. Ultimately, the module focuses on heat health action plans – effective preparation for short–term actions, coordination and long–term solutions.

On completion, you will be better able to:

• describe the heat-health nexus;
• analyse scientific evidence on the impact of heat on productivity and economic growth; and
• identify existing policies around heat and health and provide input in the policy-making process of heat and health action plans.

Summary

Module 6: Technologies

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This module will explore innovation in the cooling industry. You will analyse the implications of air conditioning in energy demand and environmental impact during its life cycle, going deeply into the role of refrigerants. You will also compare the extraordinary knowledge of alternative cooling solutions and practices for human adaptation to hot weather conditions, which are often overlooked.

On completion, you will be better able to:

• describe the evolution of the cooling industry on air conditioning, its main characteristics, and limitations;
• analyse the whole catalogue of cooling techniques and technologies at different scales; and
• implement and justify the benefit of innovative cooling techniques on thermal comfort, thermal cooling demand, energy consumption and carbon emissions.

Summary

Module 7: A circular economy

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This module will describe the importance of circularity, business models and regulations to bring about sustainable cooling for all. This will include discussing the production, use and end-of-life stages and relevant actions that bring cooling closer to a circular economy. You will also be introduced to the concept of Cooling-as-a-Service (CaaS) using real practitioners’ examples and discuss the benefits and challenges in its adoption. Finally, you will explore the importance of regulating cooling activities that cause ecological harm and how to draft a policy brief that will help your organisation to transition to a more circular economy for cooling.

On completion, you will be better able to:

• summarise the principles of a Circular Economy (CE) and the end-to-end design thinking;
• relate circularity to the whole life cycle of active versus passive cooling;
• describe the concept of Cooling-as-a-Service (CaaS) using an example; and
• identify the importance of regulating equipment use and end-of-life – including refrigerant gases.

Summary

Module 8: Shaping the future

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This module builds on what you will have learned previously about the undeniable threat extreme heat poses to all pillars of society, and the approaches that can be used to address this. You will learn about strategic steps you can take to address extreme heat, shape the future of cooling and increase your triple bottom line to ultimately deliver social, environmental and economic benefits.

Your final assessment will require you to build a Heat Resilience Plan, which will outline your case to avoid, remedy and/or mitigate the negative impacts of extreme heat.

On completion, you will be better able to:

• explain how to protect your triple bottom line from extreme heat;
• identify how to use sustainable cooling to deliver environmental, social and governance (ESG) benefits; and
• describe how to use Heat Resilience Plans to deliver ESG benefits

Summary

Who is Oxford’s Sustainable Cooling course for?

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This course is for you if you have responsibility, expertise or interest in part of the solution, but need to understand the challenges and solutions in full context to analyse, evaluate and implement the best options for your organisation, location or population. Roles that would benefit from this course include (but are not limited to):

• policy professionals in national, metropolitan and city government departments;
• NGO workers;
• workers in an international organisation with an urban climate focus eg United Nations Environment course;
• health and social care workers;
• professional service and consulting professionals;
• architects and urban planners; and
• journalists.

Beyond specific roles, this course is also beneficial to professionals working in industries which include (but are not limited to):

• construction and engineering firms
• transport
• finance
• media
• education
• government.

Summary

How long does Oxford’s Sustainable Cooling course take to complete?

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The course takes eight weeks to complete, with 5-7 hours of study required per week.

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What are the entry requirements for Oxford’s Sustainable Cooling course?

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There are no specific entry requirements for this course. However, a certain level of commitment is expected – we recommend dedicating 5-7 hours a week to your studies. All activities and tasks will take place online, so you will need a stable internet connection and suitable equipment to participate.