The German refrigeration industry constantly striving to improve the energy and resource efficiency of its products. This development is documented by the new study ‘Energy demand for refrigeration technology in Germany’, an update of the first edition published in 2011. It forms as a base for a detailed examination of refrigeration technological development and trends over the years. It also presents a detailed overview of the magnitude of energy demand and the number of refrigeration systems in individual areas of application. The study compares the year 2017 with 2009.
The inventory of refrigeration systems has increased to more than 144 million units by 2017. However, during this period their final energy demand in Germany increased by only 6% to 87 terawatt-hours (TWh), despite the increase in refrigeration systems. 84% of this energy requirement was covered with electricity. Accordingly, 14% of German electricity consumption was accounted for refrigeration applications. Together with their non-electrical systems, refrigeration technology thus accounted for 5.6% of Germany’s primary energy demand in 2017.
The study commissioned by the Research Council for Refrigeration Technology (Forschungsrat Kältetechnik e.V. – FKT) was accompanied by the Institute of Air Handling and Refrigeration (ILK) Dresden. The study shows that additional applications of refrigeration technology, especially in the heat pump sector, result in increased energy demand. However, this can be largely offset by efficiency gains contributing to a CO2 reduction of the environment.
