Best prac­tice ex­am­ples

In February 2022, the National Speed Skating Oval (NSSO), also called the "ice ribbon," held its inaugural international competition in Beijing with athletes setting 10 new records and a world record in speed skating. Qingdao Haier Carrier Refrigeration Equipment Co., Ltd. (Haier Carrier) introduced the transcritical carbon dioxide (CO2) ice making system for the NSSO. Haier Carrier is a joint venture established in 2001 by Haier Group and Carrier Global Corporation (NYSE: CARR), the leading global provider of healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent building and cold chain solutions. To create higher-quality ice, the NSSO utilized carbon dioxide (CO2 ) as a natural refrigerant for its ice-making technology, a historic first for the indoor ice venue. Speed skating requires extremely flat ice surfaces. The smaller the difference in temperature between ice and the surface, the flatter the ice. The new technology can control ice temperature variances within 0.5 degrees. To ensure the ice surface remains in peak condition, it must be resurfaced six to seven times a day during competitions. Carrier's transcritical CO2 ice making system takes less than 10 minutes to ensure that the ice surface is restored to competition standards. The NSSO covers an area of about 12,000 square meters, almost equal to the size of a track field. The ice making system uses Carrier’s high-capacity PowerCO2OL solution and consists of several high-capacity racks with 4 MW max cooling capacity running on natural refrigerant CO2, which has a low global warming potential (GWP) of 1 and near-zero carbon emissions. With more than 30% energy savings compared to a standard system, Carrier’s transcritical technology achieves optimized energy efficiency. In post-event operation, it can save nearly two million kilowatt- hours of electricity each year, making the ice rink an environmentally sustainable venue. Carrier’s transcritical CO2 technology is also used in all types of high-energy applications such as medium and large warehouses, distribution centers and food processing sites. For more information, visit www.haier-carrier.com. About Haier Carrier Qingdao Haier Carrier Refrigeration Equipment Co., Ltd. is a joint venture established in 2001 by Haier Group and Carrier Global Corporation, the leading global provider of healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent building and cold chain solutions. It is a world-class, ISO9001-certified facility producing supermarket display cabinets (more than 1,000 specifications), compressor units (scroll, piston and screw), and heat exchangers (air-cooled condenser and air cooler). It can provide customers with whole sets of freezer and refrigeration solutions such as Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) technology, HybridCO2OL® cascade refrigeration technology and CO2OLtec® transcritical refrigeration technology, both using ultra-low GWP refrigerant. The company is committed to providing advanced energy-saving systems, including CO2 refrigerant systems, for customers in the Asia Pacific region. …

Since 2016, Colruyt has been transporting its fresh products in self-developed refrigerated containers. The Liquid Ice Containers (LIC) keep the products cool with liquid ice and are 73% more climate-friendly than the classic refrigerated containers that use CO2. Colruyt has recently started to use even more eco-friendly liquid ice containers for the transport of frozen products to the shops. Liquid ice is a frozen but liquid mixture of water and ethanol or salt. The refrigerant with minuscule grains of ice has a much lower climate impact than the current alternatives. …

The seventh edition of the Environmental Investigation Agency’s (EIAs) Chilling Facts demonstrates that the uptake of HFC-free technology is rapidly advancing in the EU, especially in Eastern and Southern member countries. Since 2008, EIA has been conducting surveys on the use of natural refrigerants in various EU supermarket chains. Annual reports document the market-shift towards climate-friendly refrigerants among some of the world’s leading retailers, as well as warning slow adopters of possible financial problems. In the lastest edition of Chilling Facts, the EIA estimates that 9000 CO2 transcritical systems are in use EU-wide. 6000 additional systems are expected yearly as the EU F-gas phase down progresses. Moreover, innovative CO2 transcritical systems with parallel compression and ejector technology will enable the use of CO2 systems in warm countries. …

The Cold Link Africa is a bimonthly newspaper focusing on all aspects of refrigeration, distributed to the entire South African refrigeration industry. It is a product of Interact Media Defined, one of South Africa’s leading multi-media magazine publishers. The first edition of the Cold Link (Africa) was published 30 years ago. The newspaper covers the cold chain from producer to consumer, and includes regular features, industry news, global events as well as policies and regulations. As such, it is of interest to all consumers, suppliers and contractors in the refrigeration industry. The readership of The Cold Link Africa made evident that the South African refrigeration industry requires coordination between all stakeholders of the cold chain. This gave birth to the South African Refrigeration Distribution Association (SARDA) in 1990. …

During the cold season we do maintenance and service of air conditioning systems. We get the filters/system filters cleaned up, gas charging if required and any worn out parts are repaired or replaced during this season. …