Star Refrigeration shortlisted for three Cold Chain Sustainability Awards in partnership with customers Tesco and Bidfood
The UK’s largest refrigeration and heating contractor celebrates nominations for collaborative efforts with cold chain customers to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions.
In recognition of their work towards sustainability in the cold chain industry, Star Refrigeration, in collaboration with Tesco and Bidfood, have been shortlisted for the Cold Chain Sustainability Awards 2024 for two separate projects. Organised by the Cold Chain Federation, the prestigious awards celebrate the businesses, facilities and individuals who are leading the way to a sustainable future through innovation, collaboration, and investment into improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions.
Star’s projects in partnership with customers, Tesco and Bidfood, have each received individual nominations for the Technological Breakthrough – Innovation of the Year award category, which recognises a game-changing innovation introduced in 2023 that will lead to a widespread reduction in climate impact across the cold chain. In addition, Dr. Rob Lamb, Star Refrigeration’s Group Sales and Marketing Director, has been shortlisted in the Sustainability Champions category for his contribution over the past year to mitigating the environmental impact of cold chain operators.
The nomination for the collaborative work between Star Refrigeration and supermarket giant, Tesco, highlights the successful deployment of Star’s Ethos Data Analytics AI solution. This innovative system monitors and provides insight into refrigeration system performance by analysing real-time refrigeration data across eight of Tesco’s temperature-controlled distribution centres nationwide. Titled ‘Reaching Net Zero with Cool Data’, the project achieved impressive savings in energy consumption and CO2 emissions at each site.
Under the same ‘Innovation of the Year’ Award category, Star Refrigeration and leading UK food wholesaler, Bidfood, have been shortlisted in acknowledgement for their development of one of the most efficient temperature-controlled CO2 refrigeration plants in Europe, which let Bidfood move one step closer to achieving their Net Zero targets.
Dr. Rob Lamb, Group Sales and Marketing Director at Star Refrigeration, said: “Many congratulations to our partners, Tesco and Bidfood, for their nomination for Cold Chain Sustainability Awards 2024. Their vision and determination in implementing innovative technology and know-how have radically reduced their operation’s carbon footprint, ensuring a more sustainable future for their businesses.”
“We strongly support both equally deserving projects and are delighted with the nominations. They highlight the positive impact we are committed to delivering for our customers to support them in meeting their environmental and financial goals.”
The project with Tesco combined the service currently provided by Star Refrigeration’s maintenance team, StarCare, and the installation of their data-led Ethos technology, which uses AI and real-time data collection to identify and advise on performance improvements. Ethos compares data from the individual elements of an operational refrigeration system with a theoretical digitally generated twin and analyses the energy gap. The initiative resulted in a 10% energy saving across Tesco’s cold storage estate, achieving a 4GWh reduction in energy usage and preventing the release of 835 tonnes of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. The implementation of Ethos delivered a return on investment in just under three months.
Dr Lamb said, “Our work with Tesco demonstrates the benefits of moving to data-driven optimisation of refrigeration plant performance.”
“The project has transformed maintenance services from a support function focused on ensuring reliability of operations into a comprehensive strategy incorporating energy efficiency where Ethos advises on corrective actions based on live operational data. This foresight is key in keeping energy bills consistent while enabling Tesco to predict their energy needs”.
Star’s collaboration with Bidfood consisted of the design and installation of two dual temperature CO2 refrigeration systems at their newly built distribution centre in Glasgow. Data analysis from the plant, which has been running for a year, shows the site’s energy consumption is half of that of the UK’s ‘Best Practice’ industry benchmark and one fifth of that of the European average energy consumption for cold store facilities of a similar size.
Bidfood’s choice of CO2 refrigeration for their cold store was influenced by the broader European movement towards natural refrigerants, in sync with global carbon reduction targets. The adoption of stricter F-gas regulations which aim to phase out fluorinated gases, has accelerated the move towards CO2 refrigeration as a sustainable, future-proof solution in the industrial sector, including the cold chain.
Dr Lamb, said, “The core breakthrough innovation is found in the bespoke design of the system, which our team has engineered to operate with optimised efficiency under the unique conditions required by Bidfood’s Glasgow site’s business operation.”
“By selecting the most efficient and technologically advanced components and integrating them to work together in unison, we created a setup that allowed for precision control and monitoring of both individual parts and the system as a whole. This translated into exceptional performance.”
The Cold Chain Sustainability Awards also recognise individuals and teams who are making great strides towards a sustainable future through environmental stewardship within the cold chain industry. The nomination of Dr Rob Lamb, a leading figure in the refrigeration sector, in the Sustainability Champions category, acknowledges his contributions to reducing Star Refrigeration’s climate impact, as well as that of the cold chain industry throughout 2023. Dr Lamb led numerous industry initiatives aimed at increasing operational sustainability in the cold chain and helping support customers to achieve their Net Zero goals.
Dr Lamb, said: “I am honoured to have been shortlisted for the Cold Chain Sustainability Champions 2024 Award. The nomination recognises not only my personal commitment but also the dedication shared by the Star team and our customers to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the fight against climate change in the cold chain. And, above all, it demonstrates the importance of working together to foster sustainability within the industry”.
The Cold Chain Sustainability Awards 2024 winners will be announced at the Cold Chain Climate Summit which will take place at Warwick University on 13th March. The awards nominations will cover three distinct categories including ‘Energy Efficiency Leaders’, ‘Technological Breakthrough – Innovation of the Year’, and ‘Sustainability Champions 2024’.
To find out more about the Cold Chain Sustainability Awards, visit and view the shortlisted companies, visit Cold Chain Climate Summit 2024 – Cold Chain Federation
To find out more about Star Refrigeration’s AI driven data monitoring technology, visit Energy Consumption Monitoring & Optimisation | Star Refrigeration (star-ref.co.uk)
To find out more about the CO2 Refrigeration project at Bidfood, visit –Star Refrigeration’s breakthrough CO2 refrigeration system revolutionises Bidfood Glasgow’s energy consumption | Star Refrigeration (star-ref.co.uk)