INDUSTRIAL COOLING
From silos to systems – rethinking heating and cooling
Jose La Loggia, Group President EMEA at Trane Technologies, explores how smarter thermal management can drive energy effi ciency and decarbonisation in industrial processes.
M Jose La Loggia
ost industrial facilities still treat cooling and heating as siloed, disconnected systems, a legacy mindset that leads to wasted energy, higher emissions, and unnecessary costs. By shifting to a unifi ed thermal management approach, where heat and cold are part of the same energy ecosystem, industries can unlock major gains in effi ciency, sustainability, and performance. Heating and cooling processes account for a signifi cant
share of global energy consumption and industrial emissions. According to the European Environment Agency, heating and cooling in industry contribute around 20–25% of Europe’s CO₂ emissions. For decades, these systems have operated independently, often installed and managed in isolation. As a result, valuable energy, whether rejected heat from cooling or waste heat from heating, is frequently lost. But this doesn’t have to be the case. Rethinking how thermal energy is produced, recovered, and
reused off ers a clear path toward decarbonised operations, optimised energy use, and lower operational costs. Integrated thermal management systems challenge traditional design, enabling industrial plants to recover, repurpose, and balance energy across processes. This systems-level thinking is key to reducing emissions and improving operational resilience.
The fi rst law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot
be created or destroyed, only transformed. This principle highlights the opportunity: when we think thermally, we see how energy rejected in one part of a process, such as by a chiller, can become useful heat elsewhere. In food and beverage manufacturing, heating and cooling
are essential for food safety, product quality, and shelf life. Temperature control prevents the growth of harmful bacteria and pathogens, ensuring products are safe for consumption. Precise thermal regulation also preserves texture, fl avour, and nutritional value. In other sectors, heating and cooling ensure process stability, material integrity, or safe storage. These needs can be met far more effi ciently with a holistic, all-electric thermal management system. Industry consumes more energy than any other sector
globally, 149 million terajoules in 2017, according to McKinsey. Fuel consumption, including heat generation for industrial processes, accounts for nearly 45% of that total. Data from the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) shows that of the 2,388 TWh of fi nal energy used for industrial heating and cooling, most is for process heating. Traditionally, heating has relied on fossil-fuel boilers, while cooling has used electric chillers. These systems are designed and operated separately, ignoring the thermodynamic link between them. Yet many industrial processes require simultaneous heating and cooling. Chillers generate heat as a by-product, which is often rejected into the atmosphere. Additional sources of waste energy, such as excess heat from compressed air, decentralised refrigeration, and ventilation systems, are also overlooked. This design, where chiller and boiler plants operate as standalone systems, is no longer justifi able. Existing technologies, like heat pumps, make it possible to repurpose waste heat for low- and medium-temperature needs without additional fossil fuel consumption.
Case study: Organon Pharmaceutical manufacturer Organon, based in Oss, the Netherlands, has embraced a thermal management mindset, showing how decentralised heat pumps can replace central
26 October 2025 •
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