About Die Kälte

Die Kälte

Die Kälte, published under the full title KK DIE KÄLTE + Klimatechnik, is the leading German trade journal for refrigeration and air-conditioning technology, published monthly by the Alfons W. Gentner Verlag in Stuttgart. In its 78th volume in 2025, it offers practice-oriented and well-researched reporting on refrigeration generation, air conditioning, cooling and deep-freezing, control technology, cryogenics, ventilation, heat pump technology, heat recovery, and the rational use of energy. With a print run of 5,500 copies and its role as the organ of the federal guild association of German refrigeration system builders, it is an indispensable medium for the daily practice of the refrigeration trade. The journal is complemented by the diekaelte.de portal, a monthly newsletter, an e-paper, and the KältenKlub community, which together form an integrated media brand serving the refrigeration trade across print and digital channels.

Overview

KK DIE KÄLTE + Klimatechnik is a monthly specialist journal in DIN A4 format that addresses the entire refrigeration and air-conditioning trade. Its target group is primarily specialist companies that plan, install, and maintain or repair refrigeration, cooling, and air-conditioning plants and ventilation systems, along with engineering and planning offices in the field, universities and polytechnics, and companies from all industrial and economic sectors that rely on the practical application of air-conditioning and refrigeration systems, the so-called major users whose operations depend on reliable cooling.

The journal's content covers refrigeration generation, air conditioning, cooling and deep-freezing, control and regulation technology, cryogenics, ventilation technology, heat pump technology, heat recovery, and the rational use of energy. With application-related information and technical specialist articles, the publisher describes the journal as an indispensable medium for daily practice. The 2023 volume comprised 744 pages across twelve issues, with an editorial section of 593 pages and an advertising section of 300 pages, reflecting the journal's substantial editorial content and its attractiveness as an advertising medium for the industry's manufacturers and suppliers.

The journal is the organ of the BIV, the federal guild association of German refrigeration system builders, giving it an official standing within the organized trade. Its print run is 5,500 copies according to the IVW circulation analysis for the period July 2024 to June 2025, and the annual domestic subscription is priced at 201.90 euros, with single copies at 24.90 euros. The publisher's media data for 2026 positions the journal as the market leader among German-language refrigeration and air-conditioning trade journals, with its print run reaching the core of the trade's specialist companies.

History

The journal's volume numbering points to a founding date in the late 1940s: the 78th volume was in publication in 2025, which dates the first volume to approximately 1948. Founded in the post-war reconstruction era, when refrigeration technology was becoming essential to the food industry, retail, and industrial processes, the journal has accompanied the German refrigeration trade for more than seven decades, documenting its evolution from basic cold storage to today's computer-controlled systems and environmentally friendly refrigerants.

The publisher, Alfons W. Gentner Verlag GmbH and Co. KG, is based at Forststraße 131 in Stuttgart and has built a portfolio of trade journals around the building services and food industries. The Gentner Verlag's brands span the technical trades, and the refrigeration journal is one of its flagship titles. Over the years, the journal has expanded its title and scope from refrigeration alone to encompass air-conditioning technology, reflecting the convergence of the two fields in modern building services, where the same companies increasingly handle both cooling and climate control. The addition of heat pump technology and heat recovery to its coverage reflects the industry's response to the energy transition, as refrigeration specialists increasingly work on sustainable heating and cooling solutions and as heat pumps become a central technology of the building energy turnaround.

Coverage and Content

The journal's reporting is practice-oriented and well-researched, aimed at the daily work of refrigeration specialists. Typical topics include refrigeration generation and system design, air conditioning and ventilation, cooling and deep-freezing applications, control and regulation technology, cryogenics, heat pumps, heat recovery, and the rational use of energy. The technical articles address the practical questions of planning, installing, and maintaining refrigeration and air-conditioning plants, from component selection and system sizing to troubleshooting and energy optimization, giving practitioners actionable knowledge they can apply on the job.

The journal's community dimension is significant. The KältenKlub, the journal's community brand, had 2,541 members as of October 2025, and the publisher reports 1,442 subscribers, 3,858 newsletter recipients, and 5,036 Facebook followers as of mid-2025. The KältenKlub maintains video activities on YouTube, where the editorial team and the club publish video content, and a channel on TikTok, extending the journal's reach to younger members of the trade who consume technical content in short video formats. The monthly KK newsletter appears between the magazine issues, keeping readers current with industry news and product information, and its recipient file of nearly 3,900 addresses gives advertisers a targeted digital channel alongside the print edition.

Organization and Ownership

KK DIE KÄLTE + Klimatechnik is published by Alfons W. Gentner Verlag GmbH and Co. KG, headquartered at Forststraße 131, 70193 Stuttgart, with a postal address at Postfach 10 17 42, 70015 Stuttgart. The editor-in-chief is Dirk Rehfeld, reachable through the publisher's editorial office, with Oliver Barner also named among the editorial contacts for the journal. Advertising sales are handled by Monika Grünberg as advertising manager, who advises manufacturers and service providers on print and digital campaigns. The publisher's media data provides detailed title portraits and advertising rates, reflecting the journal's professional management as an advertising medium for the refrigeration industry's manufacturers, wholesalers, and service providers, who reach the trade's decision-makers through its pages.

The journal serves as the organ of the BIV, the federal guild association of German refrigeration system builders, which gives it an official role in the organized trade. The guild connection means the journal carries the association's communications and reflects the professional concerns of the organized refrigeration trade, from training and qualification to technical standards and industry policy. The publisher's media data positions the journal as the market leader among German-language refrigeration and air-conditioning trade journals, with its 5,500-copy print run reaching the core of the trade.

Digital Presence

The journal's digital presence is built around the diekaelte.de portal, the specialist portal for refrigeration, air-conditioning, and ventilation technology. The portal complements the print journal with current news and information from the industry, serving as the online counterpart to the monthly print rhythm and as the industry's digital meeting point. The monthly KK newsletter appears between the magazine issues, and the KK e-paper offers the journal as a digital edition with added value, allowing subscribers to read the magazine on screen with the full layout of the print edition and to search its content electronically.

The journal maintains a Facebook page with over 5,000 followers as of August 2025, and the KältenKlub community is active on YouTube with video activities from the editorial team and on TikTok, where the club reaches the trade's younger generation. This multi-channel digital presence, combining the portal, newsletter, e-paper, social media, and video, makes the journal's brand one of the most digitally developed in the German refrigeration trade press, reaching the trade's practitioners across print, web, video, and social platforms.