3 Refrigeration Mistakes That Increases Energy Consumption in Your Supermarkets

The Most Important Refrigeration Equipment Mistakes to Avoid

1. Open refrigerated display cases or poor glass-door management

While open display cases can look more attractive for product display and make it easier for customers to access products, they are significantly less energy efficient. These units continuously lose cold air to the surrounding environment, forcing the refrigeration system to work harder to maintain the required internal temperature.

Even in refrigeration units with doors, poor glass-door management, such as customers leaving doors open or doors not sealing properly, can also lead to substantial energy losses. Every time a door is left open, warm air enters the units, increasing the cooling load and causing compressors to run more frequently and for longer periods – consuming more energy.

Cost impact: Open cases can consume up to 50% more energy compared to equivalent units with glass doors.

How to fix it: Choose commercial refrigeration equipment with FREOR glass doors or lids. FREOR-manufactured glass doors not only reduce the energy needed to maintain the right temperature inside the refrigeration unit, but also feature a low-e coating, are filled with argon, and have only a 3 mm gap between the doors, minimizing warm/cold air exchange, stabilizing internal temperature, and reducing workload. FREOR doors are also equipped with gravity hinges, which allow the doors to close automatically from a 70-degree angle, preventing customers from leaving them open.

2. Not optimized temperature regulation set-point

Setting refrigeration units to temperatures lower than necessary is a common but costly mistake in supermarkets. Unnecessarily over-refrigerating products such as dairy, beverages, or fresh produce beyond their recommended temperature ranges not only does not improve their quality or extend shelf life, but also leads to significantly higher energy consumption. Every degree below the optimal set-point forces the system to work harder, extending compressor run times and increasing overall load. In many cases, these settings are never reviewed after installation or are adjusted without clear guidelines, leading to continuous and unnecessary energy use. Maintaining accurate temperature set points in accordance with the displayed product range guidelines ensures food safety and quality, reduces wasted energy, and lowers operational costs.

Cost impact: Every 1°C lower can increase energy use by ~2–4%.

How to fix it: After installing refrigeration equipment, it is essential to review and fine-tune each unit’s temperature set points. Adjust them according to the recommended temperature ranges for each specific product category, rather than relying on default or overly conservative settings. These set-points should be verified during commissioning and periodically checked to ensure they remain aligned with operational needs.

3. Poor lighting control and inefficient lighting

In many supermarkets, refrigerated display cases use lighting continuously, including during night hours when the store is closed. Lights that run unnecessarily not only consume electricity directly but also generate additional heat inside refrigeration units when older lighting options like fluorescent or halogen are used, forcing compressors to work harder to maintain proper temperatures.

Cost impact: Poor lighting control can increase overall refrigeration energy consumption by up to 15%, depending on the store size and number of units.

How to fix it: Implement scheduled lighting control to turn off or dim lights during non-operating hours and upgrade to energy-efficient LED lighting, like specifically for FREOR designed miniLine LED lighting from ZAP,  which is about 10% more efficient than the previous versions. The scheduled lighting control and LED lighting reduce both direct electricity consumption and the cooling load on the refrigeration equipment.

These are the three simple things to consider while choosing commercial refrigeration equipment for your supermarket to ensure significant operational savings! But FREOR is not stopping here – we have more solutions to improve your supermarket’s energy consumption even further!