The Energy Consumption in Refrigerated Warehouses

This book explores the philosophical understanding of the “energy consumption” in warehousing process that can be found in the literature. It presents known technical solutions that, if they are used in cold storage rooms, can effectively reduce energy consumption: through lower power consumption and/or energy recovery, such as the use of photovoltaic panels. The final part of the book explores the problems discussed on the basis of a concrete example – a project involving energy recovery in a refrigerated warehouse.This publication also describes the design of refrigerated warehouses, taking into account their energy intensity. In the case of logistic warehousing systems, the pallets in warehouses can offer a source of energy – namely of the potential energy stored in the loads on the shelves. Given that today’s construction warehouses have heights on the order of several tens of meters, that energy can be considerable. In the case of refrigerated warehouses and cold storage facilities, it is necessary to monitor the stored goods in order to maintain a constant freezing temperature, in keeping with the requirements of the HACCP system. Inevitably, this calls for constant cooling of the air inside the warehouse, and thus produces a fixed, high and constant level of energy usage. And, just as in any other context, it becomes important to identify methods for reducing energy consumption.