Despite the missed opportunities for some Olympic sponsors to demonstrate clear environmental leadership by directly switching from HCFCs to natural refrigerants, several suppliers have issued a clear commitment to CO2 Technology in vending machines and refrigerators.
Coca-Cola, Haier and Sanyo are among the 2008 Beijing Olympics sponsors, technology partners and suppliers showing clear environmental leadership in the course towards complete phase out of the use of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) as refrigerant which, although non-ozone depleting, incorporates a high global warming potential (GWP).
Companies showcasing leadership
The Coca-Cola Company has lived up to its pledges to use natural refrigerants to power more than 5,600 coolers and vending machines in Olympic venues.
“[Coca-Cola has] determined that the best alternative to use is CO2”. “Our future shall be HFC free” reiterated Neville Isdell, Chairman and CEO of the Coca-Cola Company earlier this year, before restating the company’s commitment to purchasing and deploying 100,000 CO2 coolers by the end of 2010.
The Coca Cola Company was one of the three initiators of the “Refrigerants, Naturally!” initiative, launched in 2004, an industry alliance committed to developing commercially viable HFC-free refrigeration technology. It previously placed more than 2,000 CO2 beverage coolers at all 12 World Cup football venues in Germany in 2006 and over 1,000 CO2 beverage machines at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
Haier, the world’s fourth largest white goods manufacturer, supplies all stadiums and gyms of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games with refrigerators using the natural refrigerant CO2. All refrigerators provided in stadiums and gyms by Haier, the official home appliances sponsor of the Beijing Olympics, use CO2 as a refrigerant, making this year’s Olympic Games the largest event ever to use environmentally friendly refrigerators. The 5,353 R744-based units will make up nearly half of the 13,236 installed CFC-free units available to athletes, journalists, and visitors.
The CO2 units are part of a complete line of green products covering 31 categories of Haier products that have been installed at over 30 venues in the Chinese capital and the co-host cities. In total, the Chinese manufacturer supplied more than 60,000 environmentally friendly and energy-efficient products, including HFC-free solar-based air-conditioners, washing machines and solar water heaters to the games.
In 2005, Haier signed the contract with the Olympic Games Organizing Committee to become the first official home appliances supplier in the history of the Olympic Games.
SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. (SANYO) recently developed in cooperation with the Coca-Cola Company a new generation, non-fluorocarbon type cassette unit that employs a natural refrigerant (CO2) compressor, and includes an efficient Energy Management System, for beverage coolers. The CO2 cassettes are used in Coca-Cola's drink coolers at all Olympic venues, helping the company to fulfill its promise made in September last year to install only cooling equipment that does not use HFCs.
According to Sanyo’s calculations, during operation the cassettes will reduce energy use by 16% through a Rotary 2-stage compressor technology that is able to disperse the increased pressure while keeping the compressor at low levels of vibration and noise. Integrated into the Energy Management System owned by Coca-Cola, the cassette will further improve energy efficiency by up to 35%. On top of that the CO2 unit can easily replace HFC-134a units as it matches the size and interfaces of cassettes using fluorocarbon.
SANYO is committed to preventing global warming and tackling environmental issues by openly employing its propriety technologies in creative ways, based on its Brand Vision “Think GAIA”.
More pressure on sponsors needed for 2012 HFC-free London Olympics
Today we observe a situation where the same supplier supplies two distinct technologies of different environmental performance to different customers (Olympics sponsors). This was the case for Haier, who has provided Coca-Cola with HFC-free coolers, but has also provided a large fleet of commercial coolers using HFCs for other sponsors. How can we change this? By leveraging Corporate Social Responsibility and “green image” of sponsors, to ensure that all sponsors request environmental friendly technologies such as HFC-free cooling technology from their suppliers.
Corporate Social Responsibility and “green image” significantly leverage the choice of technology by sponsors. Environmental performance becomes even more of a pressing issue for sponsors as NGOs and other bodies such as the UN conduct reports and evaluations. Additional pressure coming from official Olympic Games organizers could also prove valuable. As Greenpeace recommended, the International Olympics Committee (IOC) should, as part of the sponsors bidding criteria, set mandatory standards that prohibit or limit sponsors from using substances that are toxic, polluting, or contribute to climate change and make sure they are enforced by host cities. The IOC should also require sponsors to disclose the environmental information of the products and services they provide for the Olympics for public scrutiny. Such combined pressure on sponsors stemming from the general public, NGOs and the IOC would eventually propagate upstream to sponsors’ suppliers and in the case of refrigeration hopefully result in 2012 HFC-free London Olympics.
