Introducing energetic and capacitive energy efficiency measures in the sector of chilled and frozen food storage via an electronic platform

The freshness of agricultural products is kept well when chilled or frozen. Additionally, chilled and frozen food is en vogue due to convenience reasons. The growing demand for chilled and frozen food on a global scale has some negative ecological side effects, though. The GEMIT Institute for Business process Management and IT developed the idea to combine an electronic market place for idle cold storage capacities with a tool that helps coldstores increase their energy efficiency. It is ecologically worthwhile in a branch characterized by high CO2-emissions and energy consumption. A future marketplace does not only serve as a spot market for short term demand in storage, where it guarantees cheaper storage space in proximity and higher independency from common cold storage services. Additionally, the supplier of empty cold storage space generates new revenues and at the same time spends the maintenance energy more efficiently. Finally, the participating suppliers can benefit from a benchmarking tool and information about their own energy savings potentials. The current market situation is especially advantageous for an introduction of ECO-Store, with growing cold storage spaces in Germany and an increasing consumption of chilled food worldwide. Aspects that can impose a barrier to the project are considered as well. It was found out that companies might not want to disclose data or cooperate with possible competitors and operating providers of cold storage space fear a decline in prices. Reaching a critical mass of participants in order to assure the cost effectiveness of the investment and to increase the attractiveness itself is a crucial issue. Finally, resembling concepts already exist on the market. Yet, what it makes unique is the combination of the electronic market place and a tool aiming at reducing individual energy consumption.