Zero Emission Cold-Chain(ZECC) - Building the Road to Sustainable Cold-Chain Systems for Food Resilience

Started

Energy Efficiency(Residential and commercial)
Not Energy Related
Other Power and Storage Technologies(Energy storage)
Energy Efficiency(Industry)

Basic and strategic applied research

SOCIAL SCIENCES (Economics and Econometrics)
SOCIAL SCIENCES (Business and Management Studies)
SOCIAL SCIENCES (Sociology)
BIOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES (Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering)

Systems Analysis related to energy R&D (Other Systems Analysis)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Technology acceptance)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Other sociological economical and environmental impact of energy)

Professor T Peters
Birmingham Energy Institute
University of Birmingham

Dr X Wang
Chemical Engineering
University of Birmingham

Standard

EPSRC

01 June 2021

31 May 2026

60 months

£1,465,929

Energy

West Midlands; West Midlands

Energy : Energy

Professor T Peters, Birmingham Energy Institute, University of Birmingham
Dr X Wang, Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham

Mr T Brown, School of Engineering, London South Bank University
Ms J Evans, Fac of Eng Science & Built Env, London South Bank University
Dr AM Foster, Sch of Built Environment & Architectur, London South Bank University
Dr P K Greening, Sch of Management and Languages, Heriot-Watt University
Professor GG Maidment, Faculty of Engineering, Science and the Built Environment, London South Bank University
Professor LA Terry, School of Water, Energy and Environmen, Cranfield University
Dr B Xu, Sch of Management and Languages, Heriot-Watt University

Project Contact, Hubbard Products Limited
Project Contact, British Frozen Foods Federation
Project Contact, Cold Storage and Distribution Federation
Project Contact, Chilled Food Association
Project Contact, FEDERATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL TRADE ASSOCIATIONS LTD
Project Contact, Foodservice Equipment Association
Project Contact, United Nations Environment Prog (UNEP)
Project Contact, United for Efficiency
Project Contact, Food and Drink Federation
Project Contact, Wave Refrigeration
Project Contact, Bitzer UK
Project Contact, Star Refrigeration Ltd

This project will bring together (i) world-leading interdisciplinary researchers from the UK working across the food cold chain sector and sustainable energy; (ii) stakeholder industries; (iii) new technology innovators and (iv) cold-chain customers from farmer to retailer to provide fundamental new knowledge and a whole systems approach to redefine the cold-chain architecture and map the opportunities available to reach net zero emissions by 2050 so as to deliver (i) demand and climate adaptation, (ii) resilience and (iii) decarbonisation of the cold-chain for the food industry and its stakeholders from farmer and fishers to consumers simultaneously. The food cold chain is complex and lacks integration between sectors. Although technological challenges exist, many decarbonisation issues are techno-economic or behavioural. The project will integrate technical (engineering and food quality/safety), behavioural, financial and business aspects to provide sustainable integrated solutions to the decarbonisation conundrum. More than 60% of our food is dependent on the cold-chain, and cold-chain is a major contributor to our energy demand. The project will provide new information into in a field that has not been researched from a system approach yet

07/10/21