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Economic and environmental improvements using high energy efficiency HVAC in supermarkets

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Abstract

The commercial sector in Europe consumes a lot of energy and has one of the highest rates of energy consumption in supermarkets. Thus, supermarkets are an important part for the purposes of meeting the targets for reducing greenhouse gases which Europe has set as 10% by 2020. This article discusses the potential of economic and energy consumption savings in addition to the reduction in greenhouse gases that a high energy efficiency air conditioning installation can have in supermarkets. An analysis of the air conditioning installation is carried out in a commercial infrastructure considered as a model. Exploring the way energy is used at different times of the year and comparing the results obtained from a traditional duct installation and a high energy efficiency installation. High energy efficiency installation uses inverter technology and energetically takes advantage of the residual heat from industrial cooling processes. When high energy efficiency system is used for supermarket air conditioning, the savings in electricity consumption vary between 56 and 62%, reducing CO2 emissions to less than half with a payback period in high energy efficiency installation of three-to-four years and this reduces the ecological footprint of the products sold in supermarkets.

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Abbreviations

COP:

Coefficient of performance

CO2 :

Carbon dioxide

DB:

Dry bulb temperature

EER:

Energy efficiency ratio

EU:

European union

GHG:

Greenhouse gas

HEES:

High energy efficiency HVAC system

HVAC:

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning

kW:

Kilowatt

m2 :

Square meter

MtCO2 :

Million tonnes of CO2

PI:

Performance improvement using high energy efficiency system (%)

PI*:

Performance improvement using high energy efficiency system and taking advantage of the residual heat from the industrial cooling system (%)

R:

Supermarket food refrigeration

Rh:

Relative humidity

RHC:

Residual heat from condensers of supermarket industrial cooling system

t:

Ton

TS:

Traditional HVAC system

Zoning*:

1. division of a building or group of buildings into separately controlled spaces (zones), where different environmental conditions can be maintained simultaneously, 2. practice of dividing a building into smaller sections for control of heating and cooling (each section is selected so that a thermostat can be used to determine its requirements)

€:

Euro

WB:

Wet bulb temperature

ºC:

Degree centigrade

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Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant funding from agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Energy, University of Oviedo, C/Independencia, 13, 33004, Oviedo, Asturias, Spain

    Juan Carlos Ríos-Fernández

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  1. Juan Carlos Ríos-Fernández
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Correspondence to Juan Carlos Ríos-Fernández.

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* Definition adapted from ASHRAE Terminology of Heating, Ventilation Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Second Edition 1991.

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Ríos-Fernández, J.C. Economic and environmental improvements using high energy efficiency HVAC in supermarkets. Clean Techn Environ Policy 22, 1417–1429 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-020-01881-4

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