New Cooler? Or Cooler Classic?
At an inaugural Greenpeace Business Lecture in Beijing yesterday, Coca-Cola’s (NASDAQ: COKE) chief Neville Isdell promised the Atlanta-based company would further decrease its carbon footprint by purchasing 100,000 compressed carbon dioxide beverage coolers.
Yes, you read that right—CO2 beverage coolers.
After crunching some carbon footprint numbers, Coke discovered that the 10 million coolers and vending machines it globally operates are, by far, its largest contribution to global warming.
And, since hydroflurocarbon (HFC) refrigeration systems are 1,000 times worse for the environment than compressed CO2 systems, the beverage behemoth has also invested $40 million to research next generation refrigeration technologies.
What spurred this action you ask?
While 100,000 out of 10 million may not appear to be substantial dent, it’s actually an impressive step when you take into account that these newer refrigeration systems can cost 25 percent more than HFC systems and that the newer systems are 1,000 times less harmful to the environment. According to Isdell, it’s about time someone took the lead on this potential trend.
The question that remains is what will the company be doing with the 100,000 HFC machines?
Submitted by Carli Ghelfi on May 28, 2008 - 1:03pm.
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CO2 coolers
Sorry, I don't understand. What makes these systems 1000x better? Where does the CO2 come from? Where does it go? And why is there no door on that cooler?
It's a great thought- there are so many ways to make big impacts through incremental improvements. Let's here the details, though.
If Coca Cola was REALLLY
If Coca Cola was REALLLY interested in saving the earth they would be working harder towards ensuring higher effeciency machines are purchased and that they not promote open type coolers that consume more than 3 times the electricity required by a glass door machine of the same size..
CO2 more efficient than HFC
The CO2 is a waste gas from industrial sources (factories, production). So it doesn't add to global warming. It is used for cooling instead of being released directly to the atmosphere. In the vending machine it saves energy = it saves greenhouse gas emissions. And if CO2 leaks from the Coke cooler it's about 1,400 times less harmfull to the planet than HFC-134a. So, in sum: It is much better than HFCs. The move of Coca-Cola is definitely a step in the right direction, that's for sure. They themselves found that CO2 is at least 5% more efficient than HFCs. Guys, they spent $40 million on their research for the best refrigerant, so I'm pretty sure they chose the gas that's most climate-friendly and efficient.
More about CO2 and it's use in all kinds of applications on www.r744.com
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