Research to look at energy saving in food

The government is to fund two research projects to improve the energy efficiency of food refrigeration and distribution as new research by the Carbon Trust shows that poor energy efficiency will cost Britain's food and drink sector £26M this summer alone.

Bristol University is to study energy efficient technologies for chilling and refrigerating foods in a three-year £1M project funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural affairs (DEFRA). And a second project at Brunel University will look at the potential for renewable energy in food distribution and retail, particularly the use of solar energy using photovoltaic cells.

Dr Garry Felgate at the Carbon Trust said: "Businesses in the food and drink industry are wasting millions on energy, hitting the environment and their bottom line. Energy saving today is a no-brainer for business and the environment." Businesses with energy bills of more than £50,000 a year could apply for free surveys from Carbon Trust consultants, he added.

Food and drink accounts for 14% of UK business energy consumption and refrigeration and chilling form a large part of this. The refrigeration project will involve a consortium of four universities under the leadership of Judith Evans, senior research project manager at the Food Refrigeration and Process Engineering Research Centre at the University of Bristol. The other consortium partners are Brunel University, London South Bank University and the University of Sunderland.

The first stage of the research will be to determine current energy use in food refrigeration and identify processes with the highest potential for energy reduction. Evans has appealed to food manufacturers for help in compiling the data.

Energy saving is an integral part of the government's Food Industry Sustainability Strategy launched in April.