REVIEW article
Front. Therm. Eng.
Sec. Advancements in Cooling and Heating
This article is part of the Research TopicRedesigning Human Cooling Solutions: Innovative, Sustainable Alternatives to Conventional CoolingView all articles
Human cooling solutions: alternatives to conventional cooling solutions
Provisionally accepted
- 1Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore, Singapore
- 2İstanbul Üniversitesi-Cerrahpaşa, Istanbul, Türkiye
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To break the cycle of traditional air conditioning, rising carbon emissions, and increasing urban heat, a fundamental redesign of how humans achieve thermal comfort is essential. This review explores emerging technological trends in alternative cooling solutions from two perspectives. First, localized or personal cooling devices are gaining attention as a sustainable alternative to conventional space cooling. However, current technologies remain insufficient to fully replace traditional air conditioning. This review examines the limitations of commercial personal cooling devices and highlights advancements aiming to bridge this gap. Second, given the improbability of personal cooling entirely replacing space cooling in the near future, alternative large-scale cooling approaches must also be considered. This review discusses current and emerging cooling cycles, along with complementary technologies designed to enhance energy efficiency, including district cooling, radiative cooling, cooling paints, and the integration of green spaces.
Keywords: active cooling technologies, Cooling solutions, Human cooling, Localized cooling, passivecooling technologies, personal cooling wearables, Sustainable cooling, sustainable space cooling
Received: 30 Mar 2025; Accepted: 12 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Ang, Yusuf, Soh and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Elisa Y.M. Ang
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.