Chapter 11 _________________________________________________________ Sustainable Refrigeration

11.2 Sustainability applied to refrigeration

While keeping focus on possible environmental impacts of refrigeration treated throughout the report - namely the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer and global warming - a wider range of relevant environmental, as well as social considerations, are briefly described in this section, for consideration by decision makers.

Sustainable manufacture of systems is gradually becoming part of the decision making process for manufacturers who used to base their design on cost grounds rather than for environmental compliance leading to the acceptance of lower efficiency systems in some cases. Designers today are faced with dilemma of designing smaller units for sustainability reasons vs. larger ones for efficiency purposes. For example, a 15 to 20 K design temperature difference used for air-cooled condensers results in, smaller heat exchangers which use less material; however, it is possible to get improved efficiency by using larger heat exchangers which use more raw material and are more expensive. There is no clear guidance on optimizing these design decisions, even though there are today some best practices like the use of recycled aluminium in heat exchangers, greater use of plastics and other synthetic materials from renewable sources.

11.2.1 Sustainability principles

"In a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing of:

1. Concentrations of substances extracted from the Earth's crust

2. Concentrations of substances produced by society

3. Degradation by physical means, and, in that society...

4. People are not subject to conditions that systematically undermine their capacity to meet their needs." (Ny, 2006)

These general principles are affected by environmental and social aspects.

11.2.2 Environmental aspects

11.2.3 Social aspects

Refrigeration and air conditioning relate mainly to the social need of physical and psychological wellness, from health and safety conditions prevailing along the value chain, including consumer safety, to the availability of healthy food and reduction of food waste by appropriate refrigeration, thermal comfort and avoidance of thermal stress provided by air conditioning.

However other social needs should also be considered when coupling the refrigeration business to the sustainability imperative, such as:

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  Learning through: awareness, education, proper training of employees and technicians; and
  
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  Equity and fairness, supported by: ethical conduction of business, fair trade, fair marketing, low cost equipment coupled with high energy efficiency to the extent commercially feasible.
  

11.2.4 Assessment tools

The following assessment tools treat of particular aspects related to sustainability:

Total Equivalent Warming impact (TEWI) is a measure of the global warming impact of equipment based on the total related emissions of greenhouse gases during the operation of the equipment and the disposal of the operating fluids at the end-of-life. TEWI takes into account both direct fugitive emissions, and indirect emissions produced through the energy consumed in operating the equipment. TEWI is measured in units of mass in kg of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-eq.). The TEWI equation can be found in (EN, 2008) and (Fischer, 1991). It can be evaluated in conjunction with seasonal profiles of temperatures and capacity.

Life Cycle Climate Performance (LCCP) is a concept that incorporates the TEWI considerations and additionally includes direct and indirect greenhouse emissions from the manufacture of the active substances. Active substances are components and the working fluids such as the refrigerants (IPCC, 2005). Various studies of LCCP have included for instance the fugitive emissions of a refrigerant from production until installation in equipment, the embodied energy or GHG emissions associated with producing the refrigerant, and the GHG emissions associated with extracting materials and producing components of an air-conditioning or refrigeration system.

Both LCCP and TEWI include a measure of the efficiency of the product and give a better indication than a simple GWP reference of what the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the use of air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment will be. LCCP and TEWI calculations provide more information on the sustainability of air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment than GWP or energy efficiency alone; therefore, these methodologies should be used when comparing products and systems.

Social and Socio-Economic Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) is a social impact (and potential impact) assessment technique that aims to assess the social and socio-economic aspects of products and their potential positive and negative impacts along their life cycle encompassing extraction and processing of raw materials; manufacturing; distribution; use; re-use; maintenance; recycling; and final disposal. S-LCA complements the more usual environmental Life Cycle Assessment (E-LCA) with social and socio-economic aspects. It can either be applied on its own or in combination with E-LCA. S-LCA assesses social and socio-economic impacts found along the life cycle (supply chain, including the use phase and disposal) with generic and site specific data. It differs from other social impact assessment techniques by its objects: products and services, and its scope: the entire life cycle. Social and socio- economic aspects assessed in S-LCA are those that may directly affect stakeholders positively or negatively during the life cycle of a product. They may be linked to the behaviour of enterprises, to socio-economic processes, or to impacts on social capital. Depending on the scope of the study, indirect impacts on stakeholders may also be considered. S-LCA provides information on social and socio-economic aspects for decision making, instigating dialogue on the social and socio-economic aspects of production and consumption, in the prospect to improve performance of organizations and ultimately the well-being of stakeholders (UNEP, 2009).

Sustainability Life Cycle Assessment is a qualitative technique to determine the degree of conformity of an actual product or system to sustainable conditions, through the identification of gaps in knowledge or potential impact, which would need focused quantitative assessments (NY, 2006).

11.2.5 Opportunities for improvement

Some relevant opportunities for the industry aiming to achieve sustainability improvements along the lifecycle of a refrigeration system are:

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  Close progressively the production-consumption loop of materials manufactured from minerals, especially scarce materials such as copper, zinc and fluorine;
  
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  Reduce the emissions of GHG while reducing the dependence on oil. This can be achieved by focusing on energy efficiency, and by increasing the share of fossil-free energy during life cycle;
  
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  Reduce progressively the use of virgin raw materials, minimize emissions, upcycle waste, reuse water, and check responsible management of substances along the value chain;
  
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  Manage and progressively phase out persistent, bio accumulative and other hazardous substances to the environment and health from the materials inventory;
  
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  Establish codes of ethical conduct for suppliers along value chain and use them as effective management tools;
  
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  Reduce the use of packaging materials;
  
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  Ensure refrigerant conservation.
  

Such improvements may be facilitated with:

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  Development of standards that measure and report the relative sustainability of products and processes
  
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  Awareness raising through the value chain
  
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  Education on sustainability and its implications
  
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  Regulations and political actions defining technical conditions
  
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  Integration of social and environmental externalities into corporate governance and reporting
  
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  Financial incentives to take account of environmental damage
  

Directory: meeting
meeting -> Program description
meeting -> Iea shcp/pvps working Group on pv/t solar Systems
meeting -> Office of the collector: jagatsinghpur (st & sc development Section)
meeting -> World meteorological organization
meeting -> WG/hwsor action item summary (Current as of 28 Feb 2013)
meeting -> Review of the past hurricane season
meeting -> Review of the past hurricane season reports of hurricanes, tropical storms, tropical disturbances and related flooding during
meeting -> Town of seabrook island
meeting -> World meteorological organization

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