McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Greenpeace and the UN environment programme (UNEP) were unexpected bedfellows at a conference on innovative climate-friendly refrigeration.
The conference highlighted the commitments made by Coca-Cola,
McDonald’s and Unilever Ice Cream to phase out HFCs from their
commercial refrigeration systems:
-
Coca-Cola is currently switching to CO2-based
refrigeration as an alternative it believes to be “safe, reliable
and more energy efficient” than HFC equipment. The company says
that 50% of its suppliers have already switched out of HFC foam and
that, as of 2005, only equipment using non-HFC blown foam will be
certified for purchase in the company’s system -
Unilever Ice Cream has chosen Hydrocarbon (HC) as
its preferred alternative to HFCs. As of 2005, Unilever has
committed to buy only HFC-free ice-cream cabinets and expects to
have already about 80,000 on the market by them. The company says
its businesses currently operate some 2 millions freezers around
the world. -
McDonald’s has run a pilot-programme in one of its
restaurants in Denmark working only on HFC-free refrigeration and
will continue development work and testing in 2004-2005. According
to Greenpeace, Mc Donald’s has undertaken to convert 30,000 of its
restaurants to alternative refrigeration in a timeframe that is
still to be defined.
In parallel, environmentally-friendly refrigeration technologies
were showcased as possible alternative to HFCs.
- Hydrocarbons (HC) are currently used mainly in domestic
refrigeration and have been available in the EU and Asia for a
number of years. They are now being introduced in commercial
refrigerations. - Carbon Dioxide (CO2) refrigeration systems work similarly to
conventional systems and one believed to offer excellent
opportunities for commercial refrigeration. - The Stirling Cycle – running on helium and radically different
to the cooling cycle which traditionally runs on F-gases or
alternatives such as CO2 or HC – have been used in cryogenics for a
long time. Its use in commercial refrigeration represents a new
development particularly for smaller-size. - Thermoacoustic cooling
- Solar-powered refrigerators