Managing the life cycle assessment for high-performance refrigerators through a comparative analysis of the impacts

Today, the continuous improvement of refrigeration systems is a topic of discussion both for energy and for environmental sector. The purpose of this work is to develop a research methodology to compare the environmental impacts of two industrial refrigerators through life cycle assessment (LCA). The research was stimulated by the need to identify technology solutions that allows high performances, low energy consumption and low environmental impact. Within the study, trough LCA we appraise the impacts long by the whole lifecycle - from cradle to grave - of two typologies of industrial refrigerator having different insulations technologies. Then, we develop a comparative analysis through different LCA assessment methods between two models having different insulations technologies. Among the main results, the analysis shows that the insulating material does not have high environmental impact, while the highest impact is due to internal and external transports.