At this year’s RAC Cooling Industry Awards held on September 26, WR Refrigeration and retailer Sainsbury's were named Training Initiative of the Year and National Retailer of the Year respectively, for their creativity and contributions in the promotion of carbon dioxide refrigeration solutions. UPDATE: Morrisons and Arctic Circle won the Retail Project of The Year award for “pushing the use of CO2
On the evening of September 26, the RAC Cooling Industry Awards were held at the London Hilton. 620 industry professionals in the refrigeration and cooling sector joined the event to award the finest happened in the industry this year. In this year’s winner list, the jury recognises many energy efficient and low-carbon solutions.
Sainsbury’s awarded National Retailer of the Year
Leading UK Retailer Sainsbury’s was named the National Retailer of the Year for its CO2 refrigerated supermarkets programme. Sainsbury’s was praised by judges for the bravery of its commitment to CO2 refrigeration technology and the success it had achieved in delivering 100 CO2 stores by March 2012. Sainsbury’s target to double its CO2 store to 250 by 2014 also received the recognition of judges, along with their borehole heating and cooling solutions.
Other retailers nominated for awards included Tesco, for its transcritical carbon dioxide refrigeration systems at its Tesco’s China stores, recommended for the International Achievement of the Year Award. The Co-op, another retailer investing in natural refrigerant solutions picked up four Highly Commended citations, whilst Asda was highly commended for continuing to apply strong engineering solutions to cut carbon and to reduce refrigerant leakage.
The National Retailer of the Year category is open to retail includes supermarkets, food and non-food stores, retail parks, pubs, restaurants etc. The judges look for solutions that push the boundaries, either through developments in conventional approaches or the use of novel methods or technology. Category nominees included:
- National Air Conditioning Upgrade by Boots and Toshiba Air Conditioning
- Walmart, Brampton Ontario store by Integral Group /Elementa
- Spar Sedbergh store by James Hall & Co, Applied UK and Arctic Circle
- Stanground Store by Morrisons and Arctic Circle
The Spar Sedbergh store in the Lake District National Park integrates a hydrocarbon primary system used for cooling chilled water and free cooling and glass doors on the chiller. A CO2 heat pump is also included in the system to provide hot water. The whole system can save 66% energy compared to traditional appliances.
Morrisons and Arctic Circle won the Retail Project of The Year
The Stanground store by Morrisons and Arctic Circle was the winner of the Retail Project of The Year. The project includes a veritable host of techniques under one roof in what the retailer calls its Store of the Future. The judges were especially impressed with the store’s CO2 system and praised the project for “pushing the use of CO2 and heat reclaim to a new level”. The store’s hydrocarbon primary system with pumped CO2 secondary can save most energy. The CO2 system has an impressive six-hour resilience window built-in, to prevent critical losses from CO2 pressure surges. The project also includes heat recovery, using glycol, for space heating or in colder weather, as a higher grade heat source for the supplementary heat pumps.
In the same award category, Piccadilly Gardens Store by The Co-operative Group was highly commended because of its energy efficient measures, combining natural refrigerants (R290/glycol chiller) and heat recovery techniques in the store. Other nominees in this category included:
- National Air Conditioning Upgrade by Boots and Toshiba Air Conditioning
- Walmart, Brampton Ontario store by Integral Group /Elementa
- Spar Sedbergh store by James Hall & Co, Applied UK and Arctic Circle
- Forced Free Air Cooling in Supermarket Cases by Tesco Stores
WR Refrigeration wins training award of this year
WR Refrigeration, the refrigeration and air conditioning contractor, was named the Training Initiative of the Year Award. The award is in recognition of WR Refrigeration’s efforts in promoting green refrigeration technologies especially the creation of the world’s first refrigeration training facility with CO2, HC, HFO and chilled water technologies. Its European Refrigeration Training Academy, based near Birmingham, has now been equipped with a 64kW Hidros chiller linked to an integral HC (R1270) refrigerated cabinet alongside its existing CO2 systems. The CO2 and HC systems are linked in a cascade arrangement with the chiller, which provides chilled water as a condensing medium for the transcritical carbon dioxide plant and hydrocarbon integral display cabinet. The facility therefore enables engineers to be trained in the new generation of low global warming refrigerants and hydrocarbons. The training facility also supports WR Refrigeration’s apprenticeship scheme to enable young engineers to get hands-on experience of all the main alternative systems.
This award is open to all companies and organisations who have provided refrigeration and air conditioning training that has resulted in tangible benefits to individuals, the industry, customer service and satisfaction or the environment. Other candidates of this category also included:
- MCS Certification Support & Renewable Installation Training by Easy MCS
- Client Centre-based Seminar Series by ebm-papst UK
- PRO Academy by Panasonic Heating & Cooling
- Refrigeration Performance Score by Tesco Stores.
The RAC Contractor of The Year
Space Engineering Services was awarded The RAC Contractor of The Year for its achievement in providing sustainability services. Space Engineering Services’ looking to bring higher standards of maintenance to Tesco Hungary’s operation, the launch of sustainability services, and the addition of biomass heating to its offering were particularly appreciated by the judges. In the UK, the contactor has helped a range of retailers install CO2 refrigeration systems. This year, in order to provide green solutions for the rising number of convenience stores, the contractor combined its CO2 expertise with its growing experience of convenience stores to launch the dedicated small-footprint Convenience CO2, a packaged transcritical CO2 plant for small stores.
Gold Award Winner Bob Arthur strongly advocates CO2 technology
Bob Arthur was the winner of the RAC Gold Award this year, which recognises and rewards an outstanding contribution by an individual or organisation that have had a significant impact on the cooling industry and its response to the environment. The judges praised Bob Arthur’s “professionalism, knowledge and drive, together with a willingness to take difficult decisions” through his career life.
“Bob has been an strong advocate of the use of carbon dioxide – M&S id impressively on its fourth generation of pumped CO2 systems and Bob helped develop the BRA’s (British Refrigeration Association) CO2 short course. He has also played a key role for his employer’s Plan A campaign, halving refrigeration emissions three years ahead of target”.
About the RAC Cooling Industry Awards
The Cooling Industry Awards were launched by RAC magazine in 2004 with the backing of major high street end users and leading industry players. Today, the awards have become the symbol for successful and environmentally friendly cooling in both the industry and wider public arena.
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By Huiting Jia
Oct 11, 2012, 10:42
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