ZESPRI, in partnership with Massey University, EMCS Limited and Energy Response, continue to work with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) to improve energy efficiency in coolstores and identify best practice to minimise energy inputs and improve efficiency.
Correct coolstorage is a fundamental stage in ensuring high quality fruit. Significant gains were made through the monitoring phase of the study. When the defrost cycle (removing ice from the coolstore) was changed from every 6 hours to every 8 hours there was no impact on fruit quality, but a big impact on energy efficiency and emission reductions.
This benchmarking study will expand and continue into the following phases:
- Identification of energy saving initiatives;
- Measurement of savings due to modifications to equipment and procedures;
- Analysis of benefits;
- Development of industry benchmarks; and
- Development of an Energy Efficiency Calculator
Potential was shown to reduce coolstore power use by over 10%. The practises to do so are already being adopted by the industry.
"By setting an industry standard for best practice, we can significantly reduce the amount of energy used by coolstores," says Frank Bollen, Technical Project Manager, ZESPRI.