The reality of climate change and its effect on the planet are well documented. Businesses, and their customers, are increasingly aware of the importance of tackling climate change and are looking to ensure they operate in an environmentally-sound way.

Government regulations are also placing requirements on more energy efficient and lower emission generating systems and practices.
Of course, energy efficiency is not only vital in tackling climate change. Businesses that are reducing their carbon emissions are also benefiting from lowering their overall energy usage, which in turn cuts costs and increases profit.

Refrigeration systems have historically been high energy users and a significant contributor to overall carbon emissions and greenhouse gases. In industries where there is significant need for refrigeration systems, they can account for well over half of a company’s total carbon emissions.

However, refrigeration systems don’t have to be so damaging and costly. Modern systems feature far superior efficiency while good servicing, maintenance and operational management can make a significant difference too.

Direct emissions and Indirect emissions

To understand total carbon emissions caused by refrigeration we look at two categories: direct emissions and indirect emissions. Broadly speaking, direct emissions are the result of leakage from the refrigeration system, while indirect emissions come from the system’s overall energy usage.

Aiken help clients tackle both direct and indirect emissions
Improving direct emissions (leakages) requires good maintenance, servicing and monitoring. Retrofit measures can also be applied to existing systems to improve leakage issues. In new systems, we use very low global warming potential refrigerants (GWP) and use modern very low leakage design. This can result in between 50% to 90% reductions in direct emissions.

How to tackle energy usage

To tackle indirect emissions (energy usage), in existing systems, good maintenance and servicing is vital, as is good management and operational practices. Our new systems installed are highly energy efficient and feature in built systems to optimise and reduce cooling loads. These steps can reduce indirect emissions by up to 40%.

Together, these can give peace of mind in knowing you are making significant savings to both your energy bills and to your total carbon footprint.

At Aiken, we aim to help all our clients to operate in an environmentally friendly manner and with high energy efficiency, by using the best modern practices in our systems and in our servicing and maintenance work.
For more information on how we can help your business please contact us for a free consultation.