Miljøprojekt, 1096 – Forslag til handlingsplan for kølemøbler

Forslag til handlingsplan for kølemøbler

Summary and conclusions

The production of refrigeration cabinets in Denmark is substantial. The industry comprises seven manufacturers, with a total rof 5,000 employees (direct and indirect). A large part of the production is exported. The industry is, thus, important with regard to economy as well as employment.

Refrigeration cabinets can, roughly, be divided into two types:

Plug-in refrigeration cabinets with integrated refrigeration system, e.g. domestic refrigerators and freezers, bottle coolers and ice cream cabinets.
Remote refrigeration cabinets with external refrigeration system, including display cabinets in supermarkets and refrigerated rooms for dairy products.

The environmental analysis shows that the largst environmental impacts of refrigeration cabinets occur in the utility phase, where the electricity consumption contributes extensively to the greenhouse effect, acidification, ecotoxicity, persistent toxicity, and waste.

With regard to remote systems, emissions of HFC gases (i.e. potent greenhouse gases) are of great importance, while emissions of HFC substances from plug-in cabinets are of less important.

Other environmental effects of minor importance have been identified as well. These comprise waste from scrapping of worn-out appliances, and environmental impacts from materials, including PVC.

At two workshops in September and October 2000, the industry discussed the environmental analysis and efforts which can reduce the environmental impact and contribute to making Danish refrigeration cabinets more environmentally friendly, and, thus, more competitive in the long term.

A plan of action was drawn up with the following elements:

Project proposal 1: ”Reduction of heat supply to refrigeration cabinets”. The purpose of the project is to develop a new technology that can reduce the energy consumption in the utility phase by 20%.

Project proposal 2: ”Increased recycling of refrigeration cabinets”. The purpose of the project is to increase the extent of recycling of scrapped refrigeration cabinets.

Project proposal 3: ”Substitution of PVC”. The purpose of the project is to develop realistic alternatives to PVC in insulating frames in refrigeration cabinets.

Project proposal 4: ”Future remote systems in supermarkets”. The purpose of the project is to assess the design of future refrigeration systems with a view to using natural refrigerants and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.

Project proposal 5: ”Development of energy efficient remote refrigeration cabinets with natural refrigerants”. The purpose of the project is to design the future refrigeration cabinets with a view to using natural refrigerants (if possible with indirect refrigeration) and minimising energy consumption.

The industry has listed the order of priority of the projects, and the results of this are:

The project “Reduction of heat supply to refrigeration cabinets” has first priority.

After this, two parallel priorities have been drawn up for plug-in refrigeration cabinets and remote refrigeration cabinets respectively:

Plug-in refrigeration cabinets:

The project ”Increased recycling of refrigeration cabinets” has second priority.

The project “Substitution of PVC” has third priority.

Remote refrigeration cabinets:

Second and third priorities are co-ordinated in the two projects “Future remote systems in supermarkets” and “Development of energy efficient remote refrigeration cabinets with natural refrigerants”.

The project “Increased recycling of refrigeration cabinets” has forth priority. The project ”Substitution of PVC” has fifth priority.

The industry has agreed that all elements of the plan of action are important and should be carried out as a whole. If the industry cannot obtain support for all the elements of the plan, it is recommended to focus on the proposals with the highest priorities.

The total resource consumption for the five (sub) projects is DKK 15 million, of this DKK 10.2 million is applied for as a grant from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.

The total environmental effect of the plan of action is:

Approx. 20% reduction in the energy consumption for plug-in and remote refrigeration cabinets set up in Denmark. This corresponds to energy savings of 20% of 2,600 GWh/year or 520 GWh/year (at full conversion in approx. 10 years) which represent a reduction of CO₂-emissions of 406,000 tonnes/year.
In addition to this, reduction of HFC substances from refrigerant and insulating foam, minimised environmental impacts from disposal of PVC and other waste, and better resource utilisation.