Community Cooling Hubs in India

Launched in June 2019, the University of Birmingham is collaborating with the National Centre for Cold-chain Development and several groups in India to develop pilot Community Cooling Hubs. The initiative will help farming communities in India by aggregating demand to optimise efficient energy and resource management and bundle multiple revenue streams. Specifically, it aims to integrate food cold chains with other services that depend on cooling, such as community health facilities, social facilities, schools and emergency services. By bundling multiple revenue streams, the hubs can increase selling prices by as much as 4-5 times and avoid an average of 15-20% food loss. Moreover, they can reduce energy demand from the cold-chain sector, which is expected to surge in coming years in India. In doing so, the initiative combines sustainable models of cooling with broader social and welfare requirements in rural communities. 

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