Paving the way for a more sustainable commercial refrigeration industry

AoFrio, a global technology company headquartered in New Zealand, has been named the winner of the ‘Incremental Change in Energy efficiency’ category at The Cool Challenge, an initiative led by the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER).

This achievement marks an important milestone for AoFrio, a global leader in creating and manufacturing cutting-edge and sustainable Internet of Things (IoT) solutions and high efficiency motors for commercial refrigeration.

BIER is a coalition of leading global beverage companies working together to advance environmental sustainability within the beverage sector. Its new initiative, The Cool Challenge, invited innovators to revolutionise commercial refrigeration related to chilled, canned, or bottled beverages at their point of sale, and shape a sustainable future for the industry.

AoFrio entered the ‘Incremental Change in Energy efficiency’ category, which required applicants to present solutions which optimise energy efficiency by leveraging existing compressor technology and pushing boundaries. Entries were judged by global sustainability leads amongst the likes of Heineken, AB InBev, and Coca-Cola.

AoFrio received the win for its solution ‘AoFrio Inside’, which showcased the energy efficiency savings its customers can achieve if they implement the breadth of its hardware and SaaS offering in their coolers. AoFrio can reduce its customers’ energy-use by an average of 54% when compared to a basic cooler of the same capacity*.

AoFrio Inside is a complete refrigeration solution that combines the best of hardware, software, and cloud-based services – it includes the following:

• AoFrio ECR 2 motor – a high-efficiency motor that uses significantly less power than shaded pole motors, saving energy and money.
• AoFrio SCS controller – a smart IoT controller that connects your cooler to the AoFrio ecosystem and enables you to monitor and control the cooler’s temperature, locations, sales, power consumption, and operational effectiveness.
• AoFrio Insights platform – a dashboard view that enables customers to understand energy usage patterns and optimisation opportunities for their cooler fleet.

Greg Balla, CEO of AoFrio, says: “We believe that refrigeration should not only keep drinks at the optimal serving temperature, but also promote industry sustainability by reducing power usage.

“That’s why we created AoFrio Inside, a system that uses advanced technology to minimise energy consumption in commercial refrigeration fleets.

“Our vision is to provide our customers with the hardware and data-driven insights that enable them to remotely optimise their fleets for energy efficiency gains.

AoFrio Inside offers unparalleled benefits for all stakeholders in the commercial refrigeration market – everything from reducing cost, to delivering unmatched efficiency, enhanced performance, and improved reliability.”

With deep manufacturing and hardware roots, AoFrio has decades of experience supporting food and beverage companies around the world, having been one of the first to apply the advantages of IoT to commercial refrigeration.

AoFrio helps its customers keep food and drinks fresh and safe at the point of sale, with global beverage brands such as Coke, Pepsi, and Heineken, using its technology to manage their fleets of commercial bottle coolers.

“Having attended conferences and events all over the world, it’s clear sustainability and net zero is top of mind for the commercial refrigeration industry.

“AoFrio has installed more than 15 million high efficiency refrigeration motors and consequently saved an estimated 8 million tonnes of CO² emissions – and we’re only just getting started.

“Our win at The Cool Challenge is an exciting achievement for our team. We look forward to helping more beverage brands and cooler manufacturers meet their ESG targets, as we pave the way for a more sustainable industry,” Balla concludes.

*Based on internal testing data from Criotec. Actual results may vary depending on usage conditions and other factors.