The free SEC (Specific Energy Consumption) benchmarking app allows temperature controlled storage companies to compare their site’s energy performance against industry ‘Best Practice’ Guidelines and predicts potential energy and CO2 savings.

Following a successful launch at the TCS&D Show on 7 September 2021, a free energy consumption benchmarking app from Star Refrigeration is now available to the wider industry. The app allows users to benchmark their temperature controlled storage facility’s energy performance against best practice in order to gain an insight into the potential for reduction in energy costs and carbon emissions. This is a key first step in the industry’s transition to net zero.

With the COP26 climate conference on the horizon in Glasgow, Star Refrigeration’s birthplace, the company has great ambitions for the app to play an integral role in driving down the sector’s emissions as a whole. It could also assist businesses to understand how they sit against industry standard and ‘UK Best Practice’ and take remedial action in order to qualify for the Climate Change Agreement which provides cold chain business owners with up to 90% reduction on the Climate Change Levy (CCL) currently paid on energy bills.

Dr Rob Lamb, Group Sales & Marketing Director of Star Refrigeration, said, “We’re really proud to be helping temperature controlled storage facilities across the UK compare energy costs and CO2 emissions in order to meet net zero targets.”

“The app offers a quick and simple way to benchmark a cold store’s energy performance against current best practice and consequently allows businesses to act upon that knowledge and take the necessary steps to cut running costs, along with reducing their carbon footprint”.

In the app users are required to input refrigeration plant details such as energy consumption, the volume of the facility and the option to enter the price paid per unit of electricity. The calculator then shows how a plant compares against other sites across the UK and Europe and what sort of energy, CO2 emission and cost savings are possible by improving the energy efficiency of the site.

Cold and chill store owners and operators will compare their energy consumption against the UK’s 1994 and 2019’s ‘Best Practice’ benchmark along with the European standard which represents the averages from approximately 300 sites across Europe in 2013. The current industry ‘Best Practice’ guidelines in the UK were released from research carried out by Dr Andy Pearson, Star Refrigeration’s Group Managing Director. Updated guidelines were long overdue as the previous UK ‘Best Practice’ Guidelines were over 20 years old.

For the research, Dr Pearson collated energy performance figures of modern installations in the UK which were carried out by Star Refrigeration. The research revealed that the energy consumption of a modern, well maintained temperature controlled storage facility can now be less than 30% of the generally accepted figure from 25 years ago.

The app is free and available for download at:

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/sec-calculator/id1571289919

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.starref.sec