Page 10 - Climate Control News magazine February 2023

News
Digital deal next step in retail revolution
THE SALLING GROUP
and Danfoss A/S have announced a collaboration with Microsoft to empower sustainable food retail through digitisation.
The collaboration will develop best-in-class digi- tal services to track tem-
perature and energy use of supermarket refrigeration, enabling preventative mainte- nance to avoid food losses and energy waste.
Up to 10 per cent of all greenhouse gas emis- sions are attributed to food loss and waste.
Salling Group vice president of communica- tion & public affairs, Henrik Vinther Olesen, said the company has a strong focus on reducing energy consumption as well as reducing food waste from its stores.
“There is no doubt that new technologies will play an important role in reaching our targets, and we embrace new solutions and inventions in every corner of our business,” he said.
Starting in 2023, Salling Group, Danfoss, and Microsoft will work together to utilise energy- efficient refrigeration systems and components, in addition to the real-time analytics from Danfoss for Salling Group stores in Denmark.
Danfoss’ Alsense, an Internet of Things (IoT) platform built within Microsoft Cloud for
Sustainability, will be utilised to track refrig- eration performance, allowing the retail man- agers to respond to alarms, ensure 24/7 monitoring of food conditions, and reduce energy consumption.
The collaboration will see Salling Group also pilot a new feature of Danfoss’ Alsense, called Mean Kinetic Temperature, which expands the sensitivity of alarms.
If a freezer door is accidentally left open or if a refrigerator temperature is incorrect, store man- agers will receive an alert when refrigeration reaches a “danger zone” before food has spoiled.
These new warnings will give store manag- ers an even earlier indication of a problem, so that corrective action can be taken before food is lost.
Salling Group employees are also able to monitor the data for a specific store on a Power BI dashboard close to real time, allow- ing them to react proactively when drastic changes occur.
Danfoss Climate Solutions vice president, Jürgen Fischer, said energy efficient technolo- gies available today can deliver huge emis- sion reductions.
“With our expertise and know-how in the refrigeration domain, combined with Microsoft’s expertise in cloud and digital tech- nologies, we have the right capabilities for
ABOVE: Salling Group supermarket in Denmark.
LEFT: Danfoss Climate Solutions vice president, Jürgen Fischer.
delivering on a sustainability transformation in food retail,” Fischer said.
With energy-efficient refrigeration solu- tions, supermarkets can ensure that the exact amount of cooling is applied to prevent food from spoiling – all while conserving overall energy use.
Upskilling technicians from Pacific Island countries
AIR CONDITIONING AND Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturers of Australia (AREMA) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) are work- ing together to help Pacific Island countries
improve their training capacity throughout the HVACR industry.
With the support of the Australian govern- ment, 13 trainers from the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Tonga, Solomon Islands,
Micronesia, Palau and Samoa completed training at the Box Hill Institute in Melbourne. AREMA president Mark Padwick said the training covers installation, maintenance and
the repair of RAC equipment.
“As a result of high-quality training, techni-
cians are able to deliver better equipment longevity and customer comfort, energy sav- ings and reduced greenhouse gas emissions,” Padwick said.
The project is a key part of the Montreal Protocol’s HCFC phase-out.
The trainees will also benefit from the development and deployment of train- ing pods, which include both a split system air conditioner and a refrigeration display cabinet.
By choosing this equipment – which is in use throughout the Pacific in increasing num- bers – the training also focuses on how to safely work with flammable refrigerants, both R32 and hydrocarbons. ✺
ABOVE: Pacific Island trainees at the Box Hill Institute in Melbourne.
CLIMATECONTROLNEWS.COM.AU
10