Eskom could save loads by taking those ice-cold ones out the cooler

ACCORDING to the United States Department of Energy, the second greatest consumer of energy, on a global basis, is refrigeration or air conditioning.

As much as 15% of all energy consumed goes in this way – lighting is tops, with 27%.

In a warm climate such as we have in South Africa, the former figure must be much higher and the latter lower, considering we are blessed with lots of natural light. So, it may be that 25% of all electrical energy consumed in our sunny land goes to keeping food, buildings and beverages cool.

While maintaining the cold chain of foodstuffs is non-negotiable and noting that a lot of buildings would be uninhabitable without air conditioning, what about beverage refrigeration?

Go into any liquor store (or supermarket) and check the stock under refrigeration.

Tons of beer etc are delivered every day, warm, off delivery trucks. Much of this is cooled and kept cold 24 hours a day.

The vast bulk of this cold beverage is then taken home by customers, who do not put it in their refrigerators. So it returns to room temperature, only to be refrigerated again later – more energy consumption!

This “all beverages must be ice-cold” scenario may be unique to South Africa?

In other countries only a small proportion of a store’s beverage stock may be under refrigeration, the rest remaining on the shop floor, at room temperature.

With all the talk about energy saving, no mention of the above phenomenon has ever been made!

There is a big energy saving potential if we can kick this wasteful habit of “putting it all in the fridge”. Eskom – make this part of your campaign and reduce load-shedding!

In passing, mention should be made of the “double whammy” that is refrigeration – the gases used are still, for the most part, not friendly to the environment.

Think about all this the next time you have a frostie. Cheers! ALAN CAMPBELL, SUMMERSTRAND

‘ . . . kick this wasteful habit of putting it all in the fridge