Researchers at the Bristol University, have taken over a Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) funded project to identify, develop and stimulate more energy efficient refrigeration technologies and practices.
It is estimated that refrigeration systems use as much as 15 percent of the total energy consumed worldwide. In the UK alone, there are between 1500 to 2000 food and drink manufacturing sites that are major users of refrigeration, accounting for over 4,500 GWh of electrical energy consumption.

The food and drink sector has a target to achieve a primary specific energy consumption of 899.6 kWh per tonne of throughput by 2010. As it is estimated that about half their electricity is consumed in refrigeration processes this leaves a target of approximately 450 kWh per tonne of refrigeration energy use, from a current base level of approximately 500 kWh per tonne.

The first part is already underway, and is using a 'broad brush' approach to identify which food sectors are the major consumers of energy for refrigeration processes throughout the chain.

The Food Refrigeration and Process Engineering Research Centre says there is a dearth of measured real data on energy consumption of refrigeration systems in the industry. 'Most of the available data are estimates based on an educated guess of the proportion of energy used within a factory on refrigeration. Far more detailed data is required to identify the critical 10 areas with the highest potential to make major energy savings'.