LONDON:
A
new wave of technology is spurring a European refrigeration revolution –
slashing energy usage and eliminating the need for harmful chemicals.
Launching its new report
Chilling Facts V, the London-based Environmental Investigation
Agency (EIA) said supermarket chains throughout the EU, and particularly
in the UK, were moving away from traditional hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
towards natural refrigerants, reaping big benefits
in the process.
HFCs are a
fluorinated or F-gas, hundreds or thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2) and
responsible for about two per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in
Europe. They are used widely in refrigeration and leak into the
atmosphere.
Companies
responding to EIA highlighted the energy efficiency savings of new
HFC-free systems; in Switzerland, Co-op Schweiz found annual energy
efficiency improvements
of 30 per cent over its previous HFC systems, with additional heat
recovery benefits, while Carrefour’s HFC-free store in Turkey reports
energy efficiency improvements of about 15 per cent.
Chilling Facts V also found a significant rise in the number of stores adopting HFC-free systems.
“Moving
away from HFCs is a double win for the climate, reducing energy demand
and eliminating the need for these climate-damaging refrigerants,” said
EIA Senior Campaigner
Fionnuala Walravens.
The report comes just days after the
G20 agreed to
use the resources of the Montreal Protocol to phase-down HFCs
and as the European Union debates new rules to cut HFC emissions.
Walravens
added: “European companies lead the world in natural refrigerant
technology. The EU’s new rules should support this green economy and
ensure a swift reduction
in the availability of HFCs, supported by bans in new refrigeration and
air-conditioning equipment.”
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