GEA signs on to the UNEP Cool Coalition for sustainable cooling technology

GEA Refrigeration Technologies, the GEA business unit specializing in industrial refrigeration, has joined the Cool Coalition led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). By fostering dialog between governments, business, finance and civil society, the initiative aims to drive the use of efficient, climate-friendly cooling in urban environments, buildings and industrial processes worldwide.

For decades, GEA has been paving the way to forward-looking refrigeration technology with numerous initiatives and technological developments. For instance, the GEA Sustainable Engineering Solutions (SEnS) program has combined plant process technology and utilities solutions since 2018. Thanks to this interdisciplinary approach, customers from a wide range of industries benefit from energy-efficiency optimization strategies. Instead of going the usual route and treating heating and cooling as separate from the process technology for manufacturing consumer goods, for instance, the GEA cooling and process experts work hand in glove when it comes to planning requirements and designing production processes.

GEA Refrigeration Technologies Chief Service Officer (CSO) Ulrich Walk explains this approach: “At GEA, we look at the big picture. That means analyzing the customer’s exact energy requirements, before going on to optimize processes while taking utilities into account. By integrating heat pump technology with production processes, we create an energy loop so nothing is wasted. We are reducing the energy need, reusing the available energy and upcycling the waste heat.” With about 60 percent of their energy costs attributable to heating and subsequent cooling, food manufacturers, for one, can improve efficiency in these processes by up to 70 percent.