ACR Journal

CMYK / .ai CMYK / .ai CMYK / .ai acrjournal.uk 21 COLLABORATION Innovations to reduce cooling emissions Refrigeration is a mature industry, dominated by low cost vapour compressor technology, where most innovations are incremental. Adapting to the F-gas phase out of hydrofluorocarbons uses most of the development time of companies R&D departments. The TICR consortium will investigate a wide range of innovations looking at the technology newness and correspondent impact on the market, this includes incremental, sustaining and disruptive technologies. The analysis will include technological options, operational and whole building solutions and system integration opportunities as shown in Figure 2. For each innovation we will evaluate the GHG abatement potential, energy e ciency, cooling capacity, refrigerant type, technology readiness level (TRL, e.g. lab prototype, operating demonstrator, commercial deployment), payback period, barriers to adoption and wider economic opportunities. This information will feed into a modelling forecast of scope 1 and 2 emissions to 2050 and sector specific roadmaps. Innovation levers are key to facilitate sector-wide decarbonisation and achieve net zero and we will be carrying out interviews and workshops to gather feedback from end users, manufacturers, installers, academics and trade associations. Benchmarks Benchmarks are a useful tool for end-users as it provides them an understanding of how their current energy use compares against another site/vehicle of similar size/capacity. The benchmarking (e.g. energy consumption per floor area, or tonnes of processed food, etc.) will involve developing energy e ciency metrics to indicate poor, average, good and best/aspirational practices for each end- use case. This categorisation will be based upon performance thresholds obtained from the data collected when estimating the emissions from the transport, industrial and commercial refrigeration sectors. Figure 3 shows a Specific Energy Consumption calculator application developed by Star Refrigeration, which compares the performance of a given plant against other sites across the UK and Europe, providing advice on what sort of energy, carbon emissions and cost savings are possible by improving the energy e ciency of the site. Resources for end user guidance Roadmaps, benchmarking reports, sector- specific guidance, training materials and other publications will be added to the project website https://netzerorefrigeration. uk/ as they became available. The guidance documents will provide recommendations for manufacturers, installers and end users Technological options • Di erent vapour-compression cycle configurations, • Novel cooling/refrigeration solutions (e.g. liquid cooling for Datacentres), • Application of phase-change materials, • Smart controls and machine learning Whole building solutions • Building/equipment retrofit, • Improved insulation, coatings and airtightness for buildings • Specific equipment, e.g. display cabinets in retail and cold aisles in datacentres; Operational solutions • Demand-side response through set-point control, • Energy storage and flexibility opportunities, • Process optimisation through pinch analysis, • Refrigerant alternatives and compressor e ciency. System integration opportunities • Waste heat recovery, • Potential heat network connections, • Sector coupling via integration with renewable energy generation and electric vehicles. Figure 3 – Benchmarking tool for cold stores Figure 2 – Types of innovations applicable to Transport, Industrial and Commercial Refrigeration (TICR) on best practices for refrigeration systems. The guides use benchmarking to provide an overview of the current energy use in each TICR sector and indicate how end-users can reduce their energy consumption and operational emissions to best practice levels by exploring the most impactful technological innovations identified. The website provides an up-to-date repository of technical resources, articles and blogs relating to project activities and achievements, invitations to comment and consult on drafts and recordings of webinar presentations about the project. It also shows upcoming events where the TICR consortium will be presenting the project results. How industry can get involved The project welcomes input from anyone working in the sectors represented by our research. Whether you are a business owner, energy manager, refrigeration specialist, someone with responsibilities for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues or a researcher, NGO or trade association. Ways of being involved include: o ering sites for energy and emissions monitoring research, sharing energy consumption (data will be anonymised and aggregated), highlighting new technologies, peer reviewing drafts, reading and disseminating publications, adopting roadmaps internally and attending conferences, training sessions or online events. Please get in touch through: https:// netzerorefrigeration.uk/get-involved