Energy Use

Reducing Emissions From Refrigeration Equipment

In Great Britain, we own over 200,000 pieces of refrigeration equipment such as coolers and vending machines. These are placed with our customers - newsagents, supermarkets and others - so that they can provide the chilled drinks consumers want.

28,000
tonnes of C02 saved by installing energy saving devices in our cold drinks equipment.

Because our customers operate this equipment under varying conditions, we can only estimate the energy used and the resulting emissions. We believe the energy used by this equipment produced the equivalent of 338,295 tonnes of C02 in 2006.

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

  • Working with our equipment suppliers to ensure that HFC-free insulation is used in all new equipment. We've now completed this transition and, from now on, will only purchase refrigeration equipment with HFC-free insulation.
  • All of our new open-front coolers in Great Britain are now fitted with a special energy-saving device known as EMS 55, developed and licensed by The Coca-Cola Company. This device produces energy savings of up to 37% by ensuring that the machine switches itself off when the store in which it is situated is closed. We're also retro-fitting this device onto open-front coolers already in the marketplace. To date, this initiative has saved 28,000 tonnes of c02 - equivalent to the average annual carbon emissions of 4,600 households.6
Coolers fitted with energy saving devices know when to switch themselves off
  • We're starting to replace standard fluorescent lighting with long-life LED lighting which is 90% more efficient. Over 11% of our cold drinks equipment now uses LED lighting.
CCE Technician fitting low energy LED lighting in a vending machine
  • We have programmes in place to dispose of refrigeration equipment responsibly so that gases such as HFCs do not escape into the atmosphere.
  • Our first completely HFC-free coolers (i.e. HFC-free insulation and HFC-free refrigeration gas) are now being trialled in Great Britain and we'll evaluate their performance during 2007, based on feedback from our customers.
90%
The LED lighting used in our cold drinks equipment is 90% more efficient.
Refrigerants Naturally Partnership

On an international basis we're working hard to bring about changes in refrigeration technology and find alternative, HFC-free refrigeration equipment. Together with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Greenpeace and McDonald's, The Coca-Cola Company has formed the 'Refrigerants Naturally' partnership to promote HFC-free refrigeration technology.

Refrigerants Naturally Logo

As part of this work, HFC-free fridges and coolers have been trialled at international events including the Athens Olympics and the 2006 Football World Cup.

6Energy Savings Trust

Reducing Emissions from Refrigeration Equipment