Life-Cycle Assessment based Energy Consumption Analysis for Cold Food Storage Facilities

Abstract

Cold food storage and logistics play a key role in connecting our society to the environment as it ensures food is safely stored and delivered all around the globe relying on energy, labor, and transportation. Highlighted by recent climate disasters and energy crises, it is critical to have a better understanding of the energy efficiency of cold food storage on account of its incredibly complex and interdependent relationship with external states. In this study, the life cycle assessment method is adopted to evaluate the energy consumption of an industrial cold food storage facility, which includes a combination of five possible steps: staging, packing, freezing, cold storing, and in-site transporting. Based on the industrial and literature data, the energy analysis on a sample product, strawberry, is performed in different scenarios considering the change in storing and transporting conditions. The model and results can provide insights into the energy consumption of cold food storage and are useful to minimize its unexpected electricity bills and increase its environmental sustainability.