Beyond Refrigeration Environmental Award

Download the entry form here

Deadline extended to the 1st December  

The Beyond Refrigeration Award is presented annually to a project or innovation that demonstrates the achievements of our sector in reducing environmental emissions from cooling in the UK. The award supports one of the most important priorities for IOR members – to address the challenges of net zero as well as facilitating the sharing of innovation, raising awareness of best practice and promoting the advancement of technology for the good of society.  Not only will the winning project, company and team be recognised before their peers at the IOR Annual Dinner each year, they will be invited to give a technical paper on the IOR written papers programme to ensure that awareness of innovative and successful solutions are maximised.

The award is linked to the practical application of the IOR’s Beyond Refrigeration priorities that are aimed at supporting the sector towards net zero. The award is open to companies or a collaboration between companies. Entries can be for a single or multi-site innovation or project in any refrigeration, air conditioning or heat pump field (industrial, commercial or domestic). The project must have been installed and must be operational. Entries must provide robust data on performance, energy usage and environmental impact. It is anticipated that a successful project will address at least four of the seven critical areas for addressing climate change as outlined in the IOR’s Beyond Refrigeration template.  These are: maximising system performance, using best technology, balancing heating and cooling, reducing the need for cooling, intelligent energy use, developing the best people and skills, working together and whole system lifetime. Read more about these topics at www.ior.org.uk/beyondrefrigeration

Judging Criteria

An independent panel of Judges will consider entries against the following criteria:

• Demonstration of Beyond Refrigeration principles cited.
• Scale and benefits of environmental savings achieved (eg compared to previous installations or industry benchmarks).
• Potential for replicability or wider application.
• Innovative nature of the approach.
• The award is designed to recognise recent projects, but as it is necessary to have had time to demonstrate result, it should be no longer than 2 years since the completion date of the project.

Key Dates 

1st December 2024: Deadline for submission of entries.

20^th December 2024: Entrants will be advised of the results of the judging.

February 2025: Winner announced at the IOR Annual Dinner.

By April 2026: Presentation by the winner to IOR members.

Download the entry form here

Winner of the 2023 Beyond Refrigeration Environmental Award

True Circular Economy for the Cooling Industry by Sustain

Sustain’s approach provides a game-changing solution to the management of ageing commercial refrigeration assets to ensure Zero to Landfill by focusing on the reuse of parts from waste, repairing for reuse, repurposing the foam to avoid incineration, and ensuring recycling routes offer true circular economy.  Their end-to-end process is making a significant impact in reducing carbon emissions and VOCs from foam incineration, from their own processing that uses renewable resources and from their sustainable process for reusable steel re-manufacturing. The approach has helped to save 12,897 tonnes co2 emissions over the past 12 months, returned 156,302 kW of energy to the National Grid from the Waste Plant and diverted an estimated 4,704 tonnes of industry waste from landfill by dismantling and recycling over 17,000 refrigeration cabinets.

Highly Commended

Reaching Net Zero with Cooling Data by Tesco, Star Refrigeration  and Star Data Analytics

Tesco has achieved energy reductions and maximised efficiency across their distribution centre estate through the installation of Star Data Analytics “Ethos” solution. It uses real-time data collection and AI technology to identify and implement improvements through intelligent use of data, predictive analytics, strategic asset management and the use of the latest technology.  It has helped Tesco achieve a 10% energy saving and a reduction of 835 tonnes of CO2 emissions over the past 21 months with a return on investment of just under three months. The project sets a precedent for how data and technology can be leveraged for sustainable operation.