OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — A collaboration of five countries, including the United States, under the auspices of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has produced a study that finds significant potential for energy savings in supermarket refrigeration systems.
The study, released by the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), was intended to examine ways to reduce the global warming impact of supermarket refrigeration systems, based on the concern that refrigerant leakage would be a major contributor to global warming. The study concluded that advanced refrigeration systems would cut the global warming impact of supermarket refrigeration by about 60 percent, mostly due to reduced emissions of refrigerants.