The Channel Tunnel, which connects the UK to France, has seen an energy savings of 33% after its first season of operating a new cooling system, according to the tunnel’s operator Eurotunnel. The operator saved 4.8 GWh and nearly $600,000 in 2017, courtesy of the new cooling system.
The system contains four Series E CenTraVac large-capacity (2600 kW to 14,000 kW) chillers from Trane, a brand of Ingersoll Rand. Two of the chillers have been operational in Sangatte, France, since 2016, and the remaining units at Shakespeare Cliff, UK, have been operational since late October 2017.
The chillers use Honeywell’s Solstice zd refrigerant, which has an ultra-low global warming potential, the company says. It is a non-flammable refrigerant based on Honeywell’s hydrofluoro-olefin (HFO) technology with a GWP of 1, which is 99.9% lower than R-22, the previous refrigerant used in the Channel Tunnel, and lower than any other non-flammable solution in the market, according to Honeywell.
The Channel Tunnel has received its fifth consecutive certification from the UK’s Carbon Trust Standard for a further 9% decrease of its carbon footprint in 2015-2016 compared to 2012-2013, Eurotunnel says.
More on Honeywell Solstice and Trane CenTraVac
Earlier this year, Honeywell announced that its Solstice N40 refrigerant, already in use in thousands of supermarkets across Asia, Europe and North America, is being installed in all Lotte Mart stores in South Korea over the next seven years. Lotte Mart expects to achieve up to 8% energy savings by 2025, and says the Solstice N40 will provide at least 3% lower energy consumption in low-temperature applications, as well as 5% to 16% in medium-temperature applications, compared with current refrigerants. Honeywell says it also provides “the industry’s lowest global-warming-potential from a non flammable refrigerant.”
Trane’s Series E CenTraVac chillers won an Environmental Leader 2017 Product of the Year Award. Judges called it “an improvement on existing technology using varying attributes of other products and design,” and added that it has wider applicability for value across other industries.