Business Energy Savings

Refrigeration

No costs/ low costs options

• Minimise heat sources such as lights, vehicles and any source of moisture.
• Don’t let chilled product sit for long in a warm area.
• Don’t use cold storage areas for freezing and chilling.
• Regularly check evaporator and condenser heat exchanges to make sure they are working properly.
• Speed control on fans is more efficient than staged control.
• Don’t run evaporators at lower temperatures than you need.
• Condensers should be in cool, well ventilated areas.
• Clean check fans regularly.
• Look for hot water pre-heating opportunities from water cooled condensers, de-superheaters and oil coolers.
• Consider load shifting during periods of high-energy use and/or using thermal storage during periods of low-energy use to reduce the total energy demand.

Some investment

• Use ‘ambient’ or evaporative cooling.
• Insulate cooler/freezer area.
• Use self-closing doors to isolate cold areas.
• Vapour seal all openings in cold store walls.
• Cooling towers need to be well maintained – a water treatment and maintenance programme is essential.
• Look at how the refrigeration plant could ‘load shed’ during electrical peak demand time. Schedule batch or non-continuous operations around peak electricity cost periods.

Sources:

www.eecabusiness.govt.nz