The UK Government has described air pollution as a public health emergency, estimating that it cost £2.7bn in worker productivity in 2012, and cost the National Health Service £157m in 2017 in England alone.

Worldwide air pollution accounts for more premature deaths than smoking, shortening lives on average by nearly three years. And the World Bank estimates that lost lives and ill health cost economies ~$1m per minute in lost labour income and welfare costs.

It’s no surprise that air pollution is at the top of policy makers’ agendas. But few still seem to know that diesel Transport Refrigeration Units emit nearly 30 times as much pollution as a truck engine in terms of nitrogen dioxide, and six times more particulate matter.

In fact, 80% of the air pollution from a cold chain vehicle comes from the auxiliary diesel engine powering the refrigeration – not the truck pulling it. That’s the equivalent of 80 – 130 cars for each single TRU.

Why is it so polluting? Because the industry’s poorly regulated. But, then again, there hasn’t been a truly clean alternative until now. Some newer (direct-drive) TRUs take their power from the main truck engine: but that solution still burns diesel (even while stationary) which damages air quality and our health. And battery solutions require rare elements, that need to be carefully disposed of.

So, if you’re a policy maker, wanting to reduce air pollution, it’s close to a hundred times more effective to regulate the transport refrigeration units entering your city than trying to encourage 100 different constituents to leave their cars at home. Let alone persuading them to buy electric cars while making sure the charging infrastructure is in place.

Clean Cold Power TRUs, on the other hand, are driven by the zero emissions Dearman Engine™ which runs on liquid nitrogen, from air.

Add transport refrigeration to your clean air policies and you can multiply Clean Cold Power’s impact, without needing to change consumer behaviour or industrial-scale grid infrastructure upgrades.

Our liquid nitrogen refuelling systems are installed on fleet operators’ sites at a much lower cost than electricity upgrades or alternative fuels. There’s no combustion risk, underground pipework or grid connections.

What’s more, Clean Cold Power TRUs are quiet – 95% quieter than conventional transport refrigeration. That means Clean Cold Power TRUs run quietly enough for night-time deliveries, even in residential areas – taking more heavy goods vehicles off the roads during peak hours.