During the ATMOsphere Bangkok 2012 held on 27 July, Natasha Hurley from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) presented the key findings of the newly released fourth edition ‘Chilling Facts’ report. For the first time, the EIA has extended the geographical scope of the survey and included ten European retailers in addition to seven in the UK.
ATMOsphere Bangkok 2012, a side-event organised by shecco, was held during the 32nd Open-Ended Working Group meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol. The event was targeted at the climate negotiators who are looking for technologically viable, safe and efficient alternatives to chemical refrigerants that have to be phased out in the near future. The presentation provided by Natasha Hurley from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) zoomed in on the fourth edition of the Chilling Facts report.
HFC-free cooling makes economic sense and improves efficiency
Retailers that made the decision to move away from HFCs have reported significant energy efficiency gains. “Energy efficiency and HFC-free cooling go hand-in-hand”, said Natasha Hurley. In Switzerland, supermarkets report improved energy efficiency from using CO2 systems. Coop Switzerland states that “at already 135 stores CO2 is used as a refrigerant – the electricity need is reduced by 25% compared to former[ly] used refrigerants.”
Tesco reports that “The use of CO2 as a refrigerant has shown us energy savings on certain types of system. We use suction optimisation to maximise energy efficiency and we ensure we float the head pressures on the plant and use energy efficient condenser fan motors.”
In addition, HFC-free refrigeration makes also economic sense in the long-term as 70-75% of total equipment costs are due to the operational costs. ”Carrefour estimates operational cost savings from HFC-free systems to be in the order of 15%, with hybrid systems saving about 8% over conventional systems”, the report reads.
Hybrid technology – interim step before full HFC phase-out
While in most parts of Europe the CO2 transcritical system is more efficient, in Southern Europe the system has to be tailor-made due to higher ambient temperature and in some cases cascade systems with subcritical CO2 technology have to be used. Some retailers, such as Marks & Spencer in the UK, Carrefour in France and Delhaize in Belgium, are introducing hybrid HFC-CO2 systems as an interim measure before entirely moving away from HFCs.
“All of the supermarkets surveyed see the introduction of hybrid HFC technology as a stepping stone to a full phase out of HFCs”, according to Natasha’s presentation.
UK retailers built 330 HFC-free stores in just 4 years
The EIA report has revealed a 44% increase in HFC-free stores in the UK as compared to last year’s findings, bringing the number to 344 from only 14 in 2008 when the survey was first launched.
The most substantial progress in moving away from HFC-based refrigeration in the UK has been made by Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, while Tesco’s natural refrigerant rollout strategy in new stores has fallen short of the expectations that were based on its commitment for 150 HFC-free stores by 2012.
The EIA also highlights the efforts of discount retailers Aldi and Lidl, who are progressively deploying HFC-free freezing systems, but still have not rolled out natural refrigerants in chilled food equipment.
10 EU retailers report 559 HFC-free stores
Out of ten surveyed European retailers, seven are committed to phasing out of HFCs and overall 559 supermarkets have been reported to use natural refrigerants. Migros, Ahold and Coop Switzerland who are committed to going HCF-free in all new stores have made the biggest steps towards introducing climate-friendly refrigerants.
The EIA report urges all retailers to commit to moving away from HFC-based refrigeration by 2020 and to this end calls on the European Union to ban the use of HFCs in all new commercial refrigeration equipment by 2020.
