Ethos Energy Management
Ethos provides a highly specialised solution for optimising industrial refrigeration and heat pump equipment, helping you save thousands of pounds on energy.
Combining expert engineering knowledge with AI, digital twin technology, and advanced algorithms, Ethos delivers unrivalled visibility into system performance.
By continuously analysing real time operational data, Ethos detects inefficiencies, uncovers performance gaps, and delivers practical, data-backed recommendations to optimise energy use. It predicts short, medium and long term energy consumption under different scenarios to allow operators to make informed, strategic decisions to cut energy costs, reduce carbon emissions and extend equipment life.
Who we are?
In this age of the internet of things, Star Refrigeration has for some time recognised the importance of data. It is for this reason we invested in using real time data for the optimisation of refrigeration plants. Drawing on Star Refrigeration’s 50 years of industry experience, a new business unit,
Star Data Analytics (SDA), was set up to fill a gap in the market for strategic insight data services.
A team of award-winning senior refrigeration consultants, field engineers and software engineers
joined efforts to develop Ethos, a one-of-a-kind bespoke data driven analysis software. The
performance optimisation provided by Ethos finds ways for end users to reduce energy costs
and CO2 emissions.
How we do it
Our standalone equipment collects relevant data from your refrigeration plant by a combination of the following: a data logger with sensors, a network based data logger or a web API. Ethos analysis software then applies the live site data to a ‘dynamic digital twin’ of the cooling or heating plant to measure the gap between the ideal and the actual operating conditions.
This enables it to identify problems and suggest corrective actions to reduce energy usage and meet environmental goals. These insights are displayed on an online dashboard, along with energy usage data and equipment performance alerts to warn of any irregular behaviour. They also provide advice on specific and immediate actions to prevent unforeseen maintenance and energy costs.
Why we do it
Ethos will reduce your energy consumption. It is also a tool to help you meet with the Climate Change Agreement (CCA) obligation. Ethos provides the answer to questions such as: “What is my plant duty? What is my actual refrigeration plant efficiency? Do I know if my plant is running how the designer intended?”
Since new energy goals set in 2017, the UK government has increased its decarbonisation ambitions by adopting the legal requirement to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. Around the world similar targets are being set by governments; Ethos is internationally available.
Performance at a glance
Ethos gives you the answers to questions like…
How we save energy
Ethos is suitable for use across a variety of industry sectors, from the food processing market to data centres, leisure facilities to district heating.
Maintaining control of energy spending
Ethos means you stay in control of your energy efficiency by keeping the spotlight on energy once the plant is up and running. No matter how efficient the design and specification of the equipment, consistent attention still needs to be given to energy to avoid unnecessary costs.
How does Ethos give me control?
By using a digital twin, which shows the
energy gap between how the plant is performing and how it should perform.
Ethos then goes a step further and advises on the reasons for the gap. Finally it helps you take action to close it and ensure it stays closed.
More valuable features
Ethos is even more than performance optimisation. It also enhances customer operations with clever features on its online dashboard.
Load profile
Ethos provides insights to inform businesses on strategic decision making through the load profile feature. This is useful when looking to expand capacity or throughput.
Component health
This is a heatmap of component health which is Red, Amber, Green for a quick view of performance.
Visibility
The Status page facilitates the monitoring of site equipment in real time. A simple overview of equipment status is available.
Energy saving examples
Ethos has a proven track record of delivering up to 30% energy savings. It does this through identifying maintenance and control changes which require little to no monetary investment. Ethos provides continous virtual access to the plant’s operating parameters, plant energy usage, CO2 emissions and COP, helping you identify inefficiencies and corrective actions.
Scenario 1
A compressor where the Vi had been set wrongly at commissioning.
The error was identified some years later by Ethos and rectified. This single simple action reduced annual energy consumption by around £40,000.
Scenario 2
High condensing temperature identified. Some control settings were changed.
This is an example of site operators making changes to running conditions that had previously impacted adversely on energy performance.
Ethos identified the problem and settings were reverted to design conditions. Each dot represents the energy used on one day. Red dots are the week before the change and blue dots the week after. The graph takes account of the differing ambient conditions in March and April.
Scenario 3
Economiser not working. Site was advised and engineer calibrated economiser valve actuator. The economiser was brought back to normal operation which increased efficiency by 12%, representing considerable financial savings.
Featured Projects
1 / 3
Tesco saves 4GWh of energy and 835 tonnes of CO2
Star Refrigeration’s Ethos service and StarCare maintenance team helped Tesco achieve an average 10% energy saving across eight distribution centres between January 2022 and September 2023, with a return on investment in under 3 months.
2 / 3
Energy management system Ethos advises the Ico Co Storage & Logistics on £100,000 a year energy savings.
Star Technical Solutions have successfully introduced their ground breaking Ethos system into the Wakefield cold storage facility of The Ice Co Storage & Logistics to monitor, measure and analyse the performance of their refrigeration plant.
3 / 3
Ethos helps FM company slash £68,000 off their multinational retailer customer’s annual energy bill.
Refrigeration Innovation of the Year award winner Star Technical Solutions (STS) collaborated with a leading provider of facilities management & building maintenance to serve their retail customer with annual savings of 680,000kWh and 190 tonnes of CO2 at their distribution centre cold store in the South Midlands.
Using insights generated by Ethos, an innovative data-led performance optimisation and smart monitoring system for industrial refrigeration and heating, Star Refrigeration helped the nation’s largest supermarket chain to make 4 GWh of energy savings and record an 835 tonne reduction in CO2 emissions.
Case Studies
Ethos Energy Management
Related Case Studies
Tesco saves 4GWh of energy and 835 tonnes of CO2
| Client: | Tesco |
|---|---|
| Location: | UK |
| Sector: | Temperature Controlled Storage & Distribution |
| Equipment: | Ethos Energy Management |
| Service: | Energy Management |
Star Refrigeration’s Ethos service and StarCare maintenance team helped Tesco achieve an average 10% energy saving across eight distribution centres between January 2022 and September 2023, with a return on investment in under 3 months.
Read MoreBrewDog – Load Determination
| Client: | BrewDog |
|---|---|
| Location: | Ellon, Aberdeenshire |
| Sector: | Brewing and Distilling |
| Equipment: | Ethos Energy Management |
| Service: | Load Determination |
Scottish craft beer company BrewDog looks inside the health of their refrigeration system and analyses spare capacity for potential expansion plans with the help of Star Data Analytics.
Read MoreAsda drives down energy consumption by 35% since 2010 with the help of Star Refrigeration and City Facilities Management.
| Client: | ASDA |
|---|---|
| Location: | Various |
| Sector: | Temperature Controlled Storage & Distribution |
| Service: | Energy Optimisation |
Strategic insight data services provided by Star Refrigeration’s data monitoring business, SDA, saved Asda 5GWh on energy costs and over 1,100 tonnes of CO2e over the last four and a half years across six sites optimised with Ethos software.
Read MoreBritish Supermarket Retailer
| Client: | Supermarket retailer |
|---|---|
| Location: | UK |
| Sector: | Temperature Controlled Storage & Distribution |
| Equipment: | Ethos Energy Management |
| Service: | Energy Management |
Ethos helps FM company slash £68,000 off their multinational retailer customer’s annual energy bill.
Read More