ASHRAE Journal - September 2024 - 80

REFRIGERATION APPLICATIONS
COLUMN
Andy Pearson
Multitasking
BY ANDY PEARSON, PH.D., C.ENG., FELLOW ASHRAE
At the recent Herrick Conferences at Purdue University, the experts at the
refrigeration conference plenary panel session were asked whether they thought that
electrification and decarbonization were achievable. One aspect of the discussion
seemed to surprise a lot of the delegates.
It was pointed out that the two activities can be
thought of as two axes on a graph of progress. On the
x-axis, we can plot the carbon intensity of our electrical
production, measured in grams of CO2 emitted per
kWh generated, or gCO2e/kWh. The axis goes from zero
to 1,000 gCO2e/kWh depending on the mix
of production methods used. This metric is
readily measured and is widely available for
countries all round the world.
The y-axis shows the extent to which
" fossil-fired " activity has been supplanted
by electrically powered systems. Examples
would be electric cars replacing internal
combustion engines, residential heat pumps
replacing gas-fired furnaces or direct electric
heating replacing steam boilers for industrial
processes. This axis is on a scale of zero
to 100%, being the extent of replacement
achieved, measured in kWh of energy use
replaced by electric means.
Steady progress has been made along the x-axis over
the last 40 years. Some countries, for example Norway
and Sweden, are blessed with a geography that enables
much of their power to come from hydroelectric
schemes, supplemented in Sweden by some nuclear
plants, so their grid intensity is already close to zero.
In other places (Poland, China and South Africa for
example), coal-fired power stations are still common. It
is extremely difficult for a country like China, which has
an abundance of cheap coal but insufficient indigenous
gas resources, to switch from one to the other, especially
in a time of rapidly growing demand for power.
Progress up the y-axis has also been significant but
is quite patchy and is subject to the modern disease of
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ASHRAE JOURNAL ashrae.org S E PTEM B ER 2024
Multitasking is possible, but
not always easy.
" fake news, " with the press full of scare stories about
electric vehicles not working in cold weather, on long
journeys or catching fire without warning. These
accounts are generally wildly inaccurate and excessively
pessimistic. Heat pumps have come in for similar
treatment. While it is true to say that a
badly installed heat pump will probably
perform badly, the solution is not to reject
the technology outright, but rather to
focus on the big picture and ensure that
the excellent technology that is being
developed and commercialized is backed by
upskilling of the workforce to ensure that
the benefits of switching to a heat pump
are maximized, whether it is an individual
residential unit or signing up to a district
heating network.
The surprising aspect that was mentioned
at Purdue is that it is vital to achieve a
complete result on both axes of the graph.
If we successfully switch from fossil fuel to electric heat
and power sources but fail to clean up the generation
of that electricity we will be worse off than now. On
the other hand, if we clean up the grid but don't stop
burning stuff in vehicles and furnaces we will be no
better off.
You might wonder why this is relevant to the
refrigeration community. We can't do anything about
the power generation axis, apart from lobby our
politicians to be sensible for once, but there are many
ways for us to support the electrification project. More of
that in a future column.
Andy Pearson, Ph.D., C.Eng., is group managing director at Star Refrigeration in
Glasgow, UK.
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ASHRAE Journal - September 2024

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