Engineering an efficient and sustainable cold chain

Toby Peters: Professor of Cold Economy, University of Birmingham

Toby Peters is the inventor and architect of liquid air energy storage and the cold economy. He has created and led the development of "cleantech" around liquid air as a cost- effective energy storage and warehousing solution to a major energy challenge: environmentally and economically sustainable cooling and power in both transport and the built environment. He is internationally recognised for his role is transforming the thinking about how we deliver cooling demands sustainably and the role “clean cold” has to play in emerging market transformation.

His early career focused on strategy and disruptive innovation where he worked with a broad range of business, Government, and NGO/voluntary sector organisations to help design and deliver fundamental and far-reaching commercial and social change. His ability to create and deliver new forms of business operation and collaboration has been demonstrated in more than three decades of work.

Shane Brennan: Chief Executive, Cold Chain Federation

Shane Brennan leads the Cold Chain Federation, the specialist trade association for the temperature controlled logistics industry.  For more than 100 years the Federation (in different guises) has brought together the companies and professionals that operate the warehouses and the vehicle fleets that store and move products safely and efficiently supporting in particular our food and pharmaceutical industries. 

Shane is an experienced trade association and government relations professional. Since 2018, Shane has led the strategic renewal of the Federation, adding new members and providing new purpose. At the core of the mission is leading the industry to understand the opportunities and threats of climate change to our industry and its customers.

Roy Horne: R&D Director Ice Cream Global Systems & Channels, Unilever

Roy Horne is a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and has worked in the food industry for 35 years in a wide variety of roles in production engineering, manufacturing, marketing, sales and product design.

Since 2016 he has lead the transformation of the Unilever ice cream business cold chain focussing on energy, cost and greenhouse gas reduction across 40+ markets as part of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.

In this role he has developed a deep understanding of practical methods of GHG measurement and the key technology drivers of energy and cost reduction in the cold chain together with the developing technologies which are transforming this area.

Yulong Ding: Director of the Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage, University of Birmingham

Professor Yulong Ding is the Founding Chamberlain Chair of Chemical Engineering and founding Director of Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage; focuses on thermal and liquid air energy storage and heat transfer; leads a group of 30+ PDRAs & PhDs with £30M research portfolio; PI of EPSRC Supergen Storage Network Plus project (EP/S032622/1) and NexGen-TEST project (EP/L014211/1), Co-I of EPSRC Active Building Centre (EP/S016627/1), Supergen Energy Storage Hub (EP/L019469), JUICED Hub (EP/R023662/1) and JUICE (EP/P003605/1); 60+ patents & 250+ journal papers (H=61); recognised by 2011 The Engineer Energy & Environment and Grand Prix awards & 2018 ESIE Distinguished Energy Storage Individual Award.

Judith Evans: Professor, School of Engineering, London South Bank University

Professor Judith Evans works on food refrigeration operations throughout the food cold chain from harvest/slaughter to the consumer. She previously worked at FRPERC (Food Refrigeration and Process Engineering Research Centre) at the University of Bristol where she was a Senior Research Fellow.

Before then Judith worked for the Meat Research Institute and AFRC Institute of Food Research. During her career Judith has worked on a number of topics including frozen storage of meat, consumer handling of food and studies to improve the performance of domestic and commercial refrigerators, energy labelling, instrumentation performance, decontamination of food, cook-chill systems, novel refrigeration systems, optimising refrigeration systems and improving performance and temperature control in chilled and frozen storage rooms.

Judith's current work revolves around reducing energy use and emissions from the food cold chain, the use of novel refrigeration systems (in particular air cycle) and optimising food refrigeration processes.

Paul McAndrew: CEO, Aerofoil Energy

Paul is the founder of Aerofoil Energy and pioneered aerofoil technology for the refrigeration industry. He is a display-refrigeration specialist with over 20 years of experience in the commercial sector, including as Business Development Director of Norpe UK. Over the past 15 years Paul has launched several UK start-ups in the refrigeration and technology sectors and co-founded a distributed computing platform.

Ian Turner: Senior Aerodynamicist, Williams Advanced Engineering

A graduate in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Glasgow and with an MSc in Motorsport Engineering and Management from Cranfield University, Ian has spent most of his career at Williams specialising in aerodynamics.

Ian began with the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) team and subsequently moved into the Williams wind tunnel where he worked on Formula One cars; specifically focusing on the front wing, an area critical to aerodynamic performance.

This mix of CFD and wind tunnel experience has provided Ian with a wide range of skills on which he has built during his subsequent move into Williams Advanced Engineering in 2014. As Senior Aerodynamicist for the technology and engineering services business of the Williams Group, Ian now works on a diverse range of projects across multiple sectors, such as automotive, specifically concept cars, refrigeration, sports science and energy storage.

Prior to joining Williams Ian worked for the Ford Motor Company and also for Rolls-Royce Aero Engines.

James Bailey: Refrigeration Design & Project Support, WAVE Refrigeration

James Bailey is a Chartered Engineer, a time-served Mechanical Engineer and the founding director of WAVE; an independent refrigeration and building services consultancy.  WAVE provide services to retail end users who include ASDA, ALDI, the Co-op and Sainsbury’s. James’ work passions are low carbon innovations, low GWP refrigerant innovations, delivering an excellent service to customers, creating a positive working culture and employee development. James is immensely proud of having lead WAVE in becoming an Investors in People accredited business: where WAVE rank #7 of all UK Investors in People accredited businesses operating in the construction sector.

Dermot Cotter: Managing Director, Star Technical Solutions

Dr Dermot Cotter has worked for the Star Refrigeration Group Star for over 28 years and during this time he has fulfilled the roles of refrigeration technician, project Manager, design manager and senior consultant. His present role is the Managing Director of Star Technical Solution the consultancy arm of the Star Refrigeration Group. Dermot’s interests and focus in the refrigeration industry include industrial and commercial equipment life cycle costs, optimisation of refrigeration systems, legal compliance and efficiency of low charge ammonia systems which was the focus of his PhD.

Brian Robinson: Commercial Vehicle Emissions Consultant, Zemo Partnership

Brian runs Zemo Partnership’s (formerly LowCVP), various van and truck-related initiatives and is Zemo’s lead expert on freight transport emissions issues. He recently authored the key findings report of the Low Emissions Freight Trial and led the development of a representative emissions test protocol for TRUs. Brian is a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Environmentalist experienced in transport, energy, climate change, sustainability and vehicle safety. Before forming his own consultancy in 2014, Brian worked in increasingly senior roles at TRL Ltd, mostly on HGV-related research, and spent several years at IMechE, including time as Head of Energy.   

Simon Pearson: Director of Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology, University of Lincoln

Stephen Maile: Director of Sales, Hultsteins