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Environmental Profiles of Stirling-Cooled and Cascade-Cooled Ultra-Low Temperature Freezers

Author

Listed:
  • David M. Berchowitz

    (Global Cooling Inc., 6000 Poston Rd. Athens 45701, OH, USA)

  • Yongrak Kwon

    (Global Cooling Inc., 6000 Poston Rd. Athens 45701, OH, USA)

Abstract

The environmental footprint of ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers as used in bio-repositories, universities and other research organizations is investigated. These freezers, employing the cascade refrigeration system, use between 10 and 20 times the energy of an average household refrigerator/freezer. In addition, they often require high greenhouse gas potential (GWP) refrigerants. A new technology employing the Stirling cycle machine promises to reduce energy consumption of ULT freezers by 50% or more. The cascade and Stirling systems are compared for equivalent sized freezers in terms of embodied energy and equivalent CO 2 production from cradle to gate and use, including total equivalent warming impact (TEWI) estimations. End-of-life issues are discussed but not quantified. It is shown that Stirling technology is able to significantly reduce the environmental impact of ULT freezers.

Suggested Citation

  • David M. Berchowitz & Yongrak Kwon, 2012. "Environmental Profiles of Stirling-Cooled and Cascade-Cooled Ultra-Low Temperature Freezers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(11), pages 1-14, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:4:y:2012:i:11:p:2838-2851:d:20987
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Luo, Kaiqi & Luo, Ercang & Xie, Xiaoyun & Jiang, Yi, 2024. "A highly efficient heat-driven thermoacoustic system for room-temperature refrigeration by using novel configuration," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).
    2. Cui, Yunhao & Qiao, Jianxin & Song, Bin & Wang, Xiaotao & Yang, Zhaohui & Li, Haibing & Dai, Wei, 2021. "Experimental study of a free piston Stirling cooler with wound wire mesh regenerator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).

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