ASHRAE Journal - December 2020 - 72

REFRIGERATION APPLICATIONS
COLUMN

Andy Pearson

Oh, What a Year!
BY ANDY PEARSON, PH.D., C.ENG., FELLOW ASHRAE

It's rare to ﬁnd a set of market circumstances that affect the whole world in the way
that 2020 has seen. Looking back over the past nine months it is remarkable to see
how much changed. Now is a good time to review those changes and to consider what
lies ahead.

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In terms of market segments for the refrigeration
that many systems are unable to cope with this scenario.
business, there has been a big downturn in prepared
This will give further force to the argument for making
foods for restaurants and other hospitality outlets
working from home the new normal.
as their trading levels have plummeted. The path to
Some sections of building services are booming,
market has changed but people continue to eat, so the
particularly ﬂexible data centers offering short term
distribution network has been less affected. We see
support to the new pattern of work. Online shopping
more online trading which will speed up the developis also booming, together with the huge increase in
ment of " last mile " distribution, but in reality this shift
" reverse distribution " of returned goods. In 2019, before
was already happening before COVID-19 appeared so
the pandemic was even forecast, up to 40% of apparel
it is simply accelerating the change. Cold
bought online was returned, compared
chain logistics companies have had to ﬁnd
to 9% bought in-store. Since the start of
new ways to ensure continuity of supply.
restrictions online sales have more than
In some cases this has meant reducing the
doubled and the volume of returns has
number of product lines handled in order
jumped. Retailers are struggling to cope
to smooth out variances in the supply chain.
with this drain on their business, particuIt is incredible to realize that when the panlarly as returned goods need more careful
demic was declared the cold chain saw a
" decontamination " before they can be
Santa
hadn't
ﬁ
gured
out
the
spike in demand that exceeded Thanksgiving
resold.
reverse distribution logistics.
and Christmas combined and had virtually
So what will 2021 bring? We are not
no prior warning. After the initial rush was
likely to see a mass return to commutover there was a distinct shift towards frozen food. This
ing and ofﬁce working. This has implications for all of
appears not to have been a " ﬂash in the pan " and has led us in our own work life-the best you can do is embrace
to some capital investment in the cold chain, particuthe change and make the most of it. These changes
larly for frozen food.
have huge implications for the commercial buildings
In the building services segment, served by large water market where over-capacity of ofﬁce real estate could
chillers or direct AC units, the picture has been less rosy. have a devastating effect on speculative development,
The massive shift to " working from home " has left many
only partly counteracted by upswings in the IT segment.
ofﬁce buildings signiﬁcantly under-used. As we have
For food and apparel distribution and retail, the move
moved into winter in the northern hemisphere, those
toward online shopping will continue
who are still commuting to an ofﬁce face the challenge
and the successful players will be those
of building services systems needing to be used in new
who adapt best to the new rules, includways. Providing a very high fresh air ventilation rate
ing innovative ways to incorporate
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during winter to a sparsely populated ofﬁce with less
returns. Hopefully this is not the holiday Rate this Column
equipment load than normal to ensure a " COVID-safe "
season that breaks the reverse distribution chain.
Andy Pearson, Ph.D., C.Eng., is group managing director at Star Refrigeration in Glasgow, UK.
workplace is exceptionally challenging and it is certain
72

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ASHRAE Journal - December 2020

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