Reducing emissions from cooling

Although we can't control how our customers use our equipment on a day-to-day basis, we can estimate how much energy the coolers use, along with the resulting carbon emissions. Our carbon footprint calculations estimate that cold drinks equipment produced the equivalent of 357,336 tonnes of CO2 in 2007.

We're working to minimise the environmental impact of this equipment in a number of ways

Milton Keynes - This is our site dedicated solely to the recycling, repurpose and cleaning of our cooling stock.

HFC-free insulation - We only purchase refrigeration equipment with HFC-free insulation.

Cooler energy management - The Coca-Cola Company has developed and licensed an energy saving device for our coolers called EMS-55. This works by learning the trading patterns in store. When the store is closed, it switches the cooler lights off and puts the refrigeration into Sleep Mode. This allows the product temperature to rise, but then it reverts to Ready Mode in time for the store to open. The result is energy savings of up to 37%.

The EMS-55 device is fitted on all new open-front coolers and has now been installed onto all existing models too.

• Almost 17,000 coolers were retrofitted before the end of 2008 - representing about 15% in total.
• On a worldwide scale, one million EMS-55 devices have been fitted - saving an estimated 1.1 billion kilowatt hours and preventing around 575,000 metric tons of greenhouse emissions every year.
• We are now also retrofitting EMS to single and double-door coolers during the refurbishment process. By the end of 2009, we will have over 22,000 in the marketplace.

Energy efficient lighting - We've been replacing standard fluorescent lighting on our coolers and vending machines with long-life LED lighting, which is 80% more efficient.

• By the end of 2008, over 22,000 of our coolers and vending machines have had LED lighting installed - representing 15% in total.
• Before the end of 2009, we will have over 40,000 units converted.

Cooler Condenser Filters - In normal use, the condenser (part of the refrigeration unit) of a cooler will become blocked with airborne dirt and dust. Until it is cleaned, this blockage will result in the cooler consuming up to 30% more energy.

So we have invented a self-cleaning, maintenance-free condenser filter. When fitted to a cooler, it prevents this build-up of dirt and the resulting increase in energy consumption. We have already installed over 1,000 of these on open-fronted coolers and have plans to install many thousands more.

Doors on open-fronted coolers - We are currently undertaking trails to retrofit glass doors onto open-fronted coolers. This results in a reduction in energy usage of around 50%. We are also investigating an automatic shutter for open-fronted coolers that opens when a consumer approaches the cooler and closes again after a product has been removed. This will save over 30% of energy.

Equipment disposal - We have programmes in place to dispose of refrigeration equipment responsibly. This prevents refrigerant gases such as HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons) - which are potent greenhouse gases - from escaping into the atmosphere.

HFC-free refrigeration - We have made some progress with trials for cold drinks equipment that uses totally HFC-free refrigerants and insulation. We are looking into two types of cooling technology: one using CO2, and the other using hydrocarbon as cooling agents. There are pluses and minuses to each method. We are evaluating customer feedback, as well as assessing issues around in-trade service and economies of scale.

Refrigerants Naturally Partnership

We've been working hard to bring about global changes in refrigeration technology and find alternative, HFC-free refrigeration equipment. With this goal in mind, in 2004 the Coca-Cola Company formed the Refrigerants Naturally partnership - together with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Greenpeace and McDonald's.

• HFCs represent only 2% of the climate change problem today, but they are forecast to grow to 8% by 2050.
• If just the commercial refrigeration sector moved to climate-friendly alternatives by this date, the corresponding emission reduction in that year alone would be 1.2 billion metric tons - about the same as the total annual emissions of Germany or Japan.

The Coca-Cola Company represents around 1% of compressor purchasers worldwide. So we're mindful that we need to encourage the whole industry to work together towards climate-friendly refrigeration.

Working within the Refrigerants Naturally partnership alongside many suppliers and experts in the field, we have determined that the best alternative to HFC refrigeration is to use CO2 as a cooling gas.

• CO2 is 1,300 times less potent than HFCs and is much safer.
• When used in our refrigeration systems, they also become 5% more energy efficient.

We believe this is the technology of the future, and we are taking steps towards making it a reality. At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, all of the refrigeration equipment we used was based on CO2 and featured our EMS energy management system.

We are working to encourage the refrigeration industry and our peer companies to help us do more in years to come. It's very difficult for companies like ours to buy climate-friendly coolers at a rapid rate while they remain expensive. But the price won't come down until companies other than Coca-Cola also buy more of them.

In 2008, the Coca-Cola Company pledged to install 100,000 cold drink coolers and vending machines worldwide by the end of 2010. These will all use CO2 as a refrigerant. We hope that this will inspire other companies to help move the industry in the direction of a positive cycle of supply and demand for climate friendly coolers.

Refrigerants Naturally

Find out more about Refrigerants Naturally

http://www.refrigerantsnaturally.com