Viewpoints

Consumers visiting retail stores may recently have noticed something new when passing freezers. What are those glass lids covering chest freezers? Has refrigeration technology regressed and taken freezers "back to the 70s"?

In no way is this anything like regression but instead a result of the trading sector's active and systematic work for reducing energy consumption and minimising the burden on the environment.

Creating cold in stores uses much electricity and accounts in general for roughly more than half of a store's total electricity consumption.

Fitting chest freezers with lids generates significant electricity savings compared with uncovered freezers. Lids cut the electricity consumption of freezers by up to half.

That medium-sized supermarket next door, which has lids on all freezers, annually saves the amount of electricity that equals the consumption of some five single-family houses compared with a supermarket with no lids on freezers. This reduces the carbon footprint by about 20,000 kilos of carbon dioxide per year. So fitting freezers with lids is a very significant environmental action.

Adding lids to freezers cuts their electricity consumption because lids prevent warm and humid air from entering the equipment. Lids also have a coating that reflects thermal radiation and prevents heat from entering the freezer. As there is less heat that needs to be removed, refrigerating machines run for a shorter time and use less electricity.

As consumers, we can contribute to the environmental performance by shopping in stores which have freezers with lids and making sure that we close the lid after taking out what we need.

Mika Kaasinen is the Managing Director of Huurre Finland Oy.

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