INDUSTRIAL REFRIGERATION
Energy storage: Potential for various innovation in cold storage through ice and various other phase change materials Sector specific innovations: such as immersive cooling in data centres or supermarket display cabinet innovations.
Encouraging greater investment in innov- ation?
Not all solutions are technical ones. There are plenty of opportunities to find new ways of working, sharing information, new business models and new thinking that could help drive low carbon innovation. For example: Benchmarking – do owners really
know what “good” is, in terms of energy consumption. Benchmarks for each industry sector of good practice refrigeration use would be really helpful (e.g. energy consumption per floor area, or kgCO2
eq
per output product such as bottles of beer, tonnes of processed food). In some cases, specification of minimum performance standards would be welcome (supermarkets, data centres, logistics). Improved data availability and guidance could enable this. Guidance on innovation - given the
breadth of low carbon technologies available, more independent reviews of promising technologies for different applications would be helpful. While stakeholders have heard of these technologies, they are unsure whether to invest and further guidance could improve confidence in innovation such as AI, change of materials, piping, zoning, etc.. Upskilling across the whole workforce – especially installers. Making sure that
installers are well informed and trained in up to date areas, including how to fit and size cooling systems efficiently and implement energy efficient technologies that use new refrigerants.
Return on investment – new business models and decision-making policies such a leasing. Would more users be willing to invest in innovative technologies if the return on investment was positive and the pay-back period was not so long?
Conclusions
The common theme appears to be a lack of awareness of the potential benefits that new technologies can bring and independent reliable information on their potential for achieving reducing emissions. There is a need for reliable tools and guidance aimed at specific stakeholders: operators, manufacturers, designers, users and installers. Key questions such as the trade-off between changing refrigerants and energy use efficiency need to be communicated and evaluated along with effects on plant sizing, and availability of lower emission technologies. And even more complex - the emissions generated from the use of cooling systems need to be traded-off against the emissions avoided from their use (e.g. due to reduced product wastage, more efficient manufacturing processes etc). Research carried out recently by BEIS suggest that around 6% of industrial electricity might be used for refrigeration in the UK – that is possibly 6% of the average customers energy bill. With energy costs increasing there is potential for the RACHP
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sector to provide much needed solutions when it comes to replacing out of date existing plant with more efficient equipment. The UK’s Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy programme means that businesses are going to have to make changes to how they operate and how they purchase, to reach the target of net zero emissions by 2050. Those that are not already preparing for these changes will miss out – they could be stuck with costly inefficient equipment and a big gap in the ESG reporting.
The Institute of Refrigeration won the ACR
News Environmental Initiative of the Year Award for its Beyond Refrigeration work that provides a template for users of cooling to move towards net zero, and policy briefs to improve incentives and case studies on innovation in practice . See
www.ior.org.uk/ beyondrefrigeration Thanks to Prof Graeme Maidment and co- authors for providing information on which this article is based, drawn from a paper on “Transport, Industrial and Commercial Refrigeration in the UK - Opportunities for Research and Innovation in Industrial Buildings” published by CIBSE. BEIS is looking to procure research to inform its understanding of - Opportunities for Research and Innovation in Transport, Industrial and Commercial Refrigeration in the UK. They plan a supplier engagement event on the 3rd May 2022 at 3pm at the BEIS conference centre.
X To register:
https://bit.ly/3MyJYJk X Any questions can be directed to
fmprocurement@uksbs.co.uk.
www.acr-news.com • May 2022 21
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