St. Louis, Missouri- Recently Washington University’s Sustainability and Purchasing Departments have introduced a high-efficiency freezer program. This program promotes the use of sustainable, Energy Star listed freezers on campus. This is especially important when considering ultra-low temperature freezers. These typically run at -80 degrees C and require quite a bit of energy to maintain those temperatures. The older -80s use roughly the energy equivalent of an average household of 4. The new Eco-friendly freezers will also use natural hydrocarbon refrigerants with a significantly lower global warming potential than standard refrigerants. High-efficiency freezers will not only cut energy consumption roughly in half (depending on the brand), but they will also greatly lessen the heat output from the unit. This will help cut the conditioned air usage in the freezer rooms, which is also a significant energy draw.
Considering that Washington University has well over 900 ultra-low freezers, this will promote active energy savings and will significantly reduce the University’s carbon footprint in the near and distant future.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Energy Star products, please email [email protected] and we’d be happy to put you in touch with your local representative.
