When it comes to energy demand and environmental harm, refrigeration companies are certainly up there. Refrigeration is energy-intensive, uses harmful chemicals, and can be detrimental to the environment. Most refrigeration systems have to run all the time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. This energy demand can really add up, and if it is refrigeration on a commercial scale, this demand can reach hundreds and thousands of kilowatts a day. Thankfully, companies are now waking up to the fact that they have a responsibility to design systems to be more efficient and better for the environment. Air con and refrigeration companies in Scotland are now much more thoughtful in how they approach new systems and what they can do to reduce their environmental impact.
A wind farm high above the Scottish hills
Refrigeration Companies Initiatives
Specific refrigerant systems are used in refrigerators for example, liquid nitrogen, dry ice, carbon dioxide and condensation. The term refrigerated means storing a material or environment to and/or maintain its temperature below the air or ambient one. In general terms, refrigerating is artificial cooling, especially in the form of dry ice. The moisture content in the material is heated above the freezing point and then the substance is cooled down again by evaporation. This type of refrigerating is known as dry ice. It is used in many commercial applications and is extensively used in industries, but to make dry ice is very energy intensive. So refrigeration companies are doing everything they can to start limiting the amount of power they need and start moving towards more efficient refrigeration methods.
Energy is everything in the modern age
How Does Refrigeration Work?
The technique of refrigeration involves a mechanism that transfers heat from a hot area to a cold one, reducing the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of the cold object. The concept of refrigeration includes two main processes: passive and active. A passive process involves heating a material, such as the air surrounding the object of storage, which is then cooled down using convection, absorption, diffusion and sublimation. In contrast, a dynamic process, such as active refrigeration, involves using an outside force such as a pump to transfer energy from the hot side of the object to the cold side. These methods require a lot of energy and the temperature of the material must be constant during the entire process. A common type of refrigerating is passive or condensing refrigeration, which uses heat pumps to transfer heat from the atmosphere to the refrigerant and from the refrigerant to the air.
Supermarkets are one of the biggest applications for commercial refrigeration
Heat Pumps
Heat pumps are devices that move air and heat away from the refrigerant in order to reduce the temperature of the refrigerant and transfer it back to the air or room at a very low temperature. They have been used in refrigeration for some time but their usefulness has been limited to areas such as space heating and cooling where the air conditioning unit is located. There is also a type of air compression refrigeration called forced air compression refrigerants which moves hot air from outside to inside the refrigerant tank. This type of refrigeration works at very low temperatures and is useful where the refrigerant must be kept at a particular temperature or the pressure drops.
Huge air conditioning system on the roof of a skyscraper in China
New Energy Efficient Systems
Vacuum refrigeration systems are also used for low temperature storage and are similar in principle to an air compressors, with the difference that the refrigerant is pumped through a tube rather than being pushed through the air. Some types of vacuum refrigeration systems may use a mechanical pump. These types of refrigerators work best for small volumes of refrigerant, as they are very energy efficient. Our recent post discussing Scotland’s first sub-sea data centre is very interesting if you want to read more on Scottish energy initiatives.