Cooling and refrigeration account for almost one-third of the energy consumption of residential and commercial buildings in the United States.
ICE cooling technology can have a significant impact on cooling and refrigeration:
ICE cooling saves energy. It is a new, alternative energy source which is safe, recyclable and uses no nonrenewable energy sources.
For a typical cooling range of an average bottle or can, the cooling energy used to cool the beverage is about the same as the energy needed to light a 100-watt bulb for 5 minutes. While small for each container, the cumulative effect is substantial. Over 200 billion beverage containers are sold in the U.S. every year. If only 1/10 of 1% (.001) of the containers had ICE cooling units, the cooling energy generated would save enough electricity to light nearly 2,000 homes for a year. (The average U.S. household uses about 1,000 kwh/yr for lighting.)
Warm drinks are often cooled by putting ice cubes in them. Containers with ICE cooling save additional energy over ice cubes because they can be activated on demand and ice cubes need to be kept refrigerated. The energy usage for keeping ice cubes refrigerated for hours can be even more than the energy used in cooling the drink.
ICE-cooled containers do not need to be refrigerated. This eliminates the need for refrigeration or cooling of beverages in these containers at home, in vending machines, in warehouses, and in supermarket retail display cases.
Energy saved by eliminating refrigeration varies greatly because of vast differences in refrigeration devices and commercial vs. residential use. Commercial and home refrigerators are very efficient, while refrigerated display cases are flagrant energy consumers. Vending machines fall somewhere in between. According to Department of Energy reports, a 50,000 sq.ft. supermarket will use 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 kwh/yr of electricity, half of which is for food and beverage refrigeration. A U.S. household uses an average of 10,000 kwh/yr (actual usage varies widely), of which about 15% is for food and beverage refrigeration. Even considering the size disparity, a supermarket uses electricity at 10 times the rate of a residence.
If ICE cooling can be used to effect just a 3% reduction in retail display case usage and a corresponding reduction in overall electricity usage for a supermarket, the savings would amount to about 40,000 kwh/yr. So the savings for each supermarket would be enough to power 4 homes for a year!