Environmental impact of the cold and energy efficiency

Refrigeration and air conditioning are essential to life today and in the future because of their applications:

• production, processing, preservation, transport and sale of a wide range of food products;

• development, preservation of medicines and vaccines ;

• medical treatments and surgical operations ;

• achievements and improvements in living, working and travelling conditions;

• processes in virtually every industry (plastics, chemicals, metallurgy, research, space, nanotechnologies, etc.).

Refrigeration and air conditioning are in line with sustainable development for :

• the economic aspect (table 1 taken from the report "Refrigeration drives sustainable development" published in 2007 by the IIF and UNEP . This is a major sector, with worldwide sales of $200 billion at the time. It is present in energy production, gas production (petroleum gas or liquefied natural gas, industrial gases), land and sea transport, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and food production, the manufacture of refrigerators, domestic freezers, heat pumps and ongoing development (solar, natural refrigerants, new energies);

• the social aspect, with improved working, living, leisure and healthcare conditions, and more than 2 million skilled jobs in 2007. The workforce is expected to grow by 28% by 2030;

• the environmental aspect, with the reduction of emissions and the capture of CO ₂ , the maintenance of biodiversity and the cryopreservation of cells, the reduction or banning of substances that contribute to the destruction of the ozone layer or increase the greenhouse effect.

Worldwide, electricity consumption linked to refrigeration and air conditioning is 2,850 TWh (15% of the total) and the corresponding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are 2,250 Mt CO ₂ equivalent (4.5% of the total). For France, the corresponding values are 45 TWh and 2% of GHG emissions. Nevertheless, refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment has an impact on the environment, which must be reduced and controlled.