Unlocking the potential of waste heat from cooling
3rd April 2025
UK: A new research project led by London South Bank University (LSBU) aims to unlock the potential of waste heat from cooling systems in cities.
The Waste Heat Assessment and Resource Mapping (WHARM) project, a partnership between LSBU, Aston University, Birmingham City Council, Star Refrigeration and Skilled Mapping is using Birmingham as a case study.
The project will produce a geo-referenced database on energy-intensive sectors such as data centres, supermarkets, cold storage facilities and industrial sites to better understand their waste heat generation and the potential for reuse on site or “export” to neighbours.
“The WHARM project is a great initiative bringing together industry leaders and academics to provide a blueprint on how to approach waste heat with data, ultimately building knowledge that can support the decarbonisation of our cities and industries,” explained Dr Henrique Lagoeiro, a research fellow at LSBU and the project lead.
Dave Pearson, group sustainable development director of Star Refrigeration and Royal Academy of Engineering visiting professor to Edinburgh Napier University added: “We often hear off the cuff remarks about how much waste heat there is, but what we really need to know is a more granular level or place, quantity, quality, and cleanliness so we can advise on whether to boost it back up on site with industrial heat pumps or make available to neighbours to use in district heat networks. Just like materials recycling we hope to define a value basis for waste heat so it could even be sold.”
The project is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through the Reef-UKC network.
The EPSRC is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences. Reef-UKC is a research network focused on integrating renewable energy with clean cooling technologies, aiming to improve energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact through system-level research and sustainable business models.
