HOW MUCH CARBON IS YOUR REFRIGERATED FLEET PRODUCING?

Asda could save 60,000 tonnes of CO2 using ecoFridge Nitrogen Powered Refrigeration
An average diesel powered refrigerated trailer runs approximately 3,000 hours a year, uses about four litres of diesel per hour, every litre of which produces 2.63 Kgs of carbon (31,560 Kgs of carbon per year per trailer). Add to that, there are around 30,000 trailers and many more trucks milling around in the UK – that is a heck of a lot of carbon being chugged out. And in these days of carbon neutral, it is not a good selling point. ecoFridge has the answer. Nitrogen. Not only does it produce zero carbon emissions, it is also cheaper to run, silent, pulls down faster, and will do literally anything that a diesel system can and more.

ecoFridge President and CEO Tom Roller says: “the nitrogen used by the ecoFridge system has zero carbon emissions, zero O2 depletion, therefore zero global warming potential. Unlike diesel, which produces 2.63 Kgs of carbon for every litre burned, and some refrigerated vehicles will be running over 4000 hours a year.” The company says its standard ecoFridge systems for trucks (650L capacity) and trailers (1000L capacity) have performed extremely well in trials and long term use in a cross section of operations over the last two years. ecoFridge is now in use in Israel, South Africa, France, the UK and North America. The company’s longest ‘full time’ trial to date is 20 months with Asda. This has involved 7 1000L capacity dual temperature systems operating at -20 degrees and +3 degrees celsius.

Asda (a Wal-Mart subsidiary) is one of Britain’s largest supermarket chains. The company has over 370 stores nationwide and 23 distribution depots in the UK.  Asda considers every aspect of their supply chain in order to reduce costs and CO2 emissions, whilst improving operational efficiency. The company has set a goal of cutting the fleet’s total emissions by 40% by the end of 2009 by in introducing various supply chain innovations. If Asda fitted ecoFridge nitrogen powered fridges on 2,500 refrigerated trailer units, the company could potentially save on an annual basis approximately 23 million litres of diesel, 60,000 tonnes of CO2 and £21 million in fuel costs.

Chris Hall, Asda’s Network Transport Manager, said: “Taking on ecoFridge is a major step towards ensuring that our fleet transport reduces costs, cuts carbon emissions and lowers the overall environmental impact of food distribution. It also solves the problem of delivering chilled goods to our stores in residential areas – especially at night, due to the silent running nature of the technology.”

Asda also wanted to solve the problem of delivering chilled goods to their stores in residential areas, especially at night. The ecoFridge system is silent running and has also been endorsed by the Noise Abatement Society (NAS) by presenting the company with the John Connell Technology Award 2006. ecoFridge has also attained the European Piek certification allowing it to be used wherever noise restrictions are enforced.

NAS trustee Gloria Elliot said: “This is a fantastic step forward. It solves the problem of delivering refrigerated goods to supermarkets at night, which, in many areas is currently banned due to the high noise pollution of traditional refrigerated trailers. With the ecoFridge system, we can combine the growing necessity for a 24h delivery of goods and at the same time reap the environmental benefits!”

There are two demonstration units, a Leyland DAF/FA CF65.250 E with dual temperature, 650L capacity ecoFridge system, shutter door and tuck-away tail lift, fitted with full safety package. A dual temp trailer, barn doors, tuck-away tail lift and full safety package, 1000L capacity ecoFridge system.