ROHNERT PARK, Calif. — A new technology — 100% electric heat pump refrigeration — at Straus Family Creamery will contribute to a sustainable transformation of the commercial cold storage sector, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy efficiency and demand flexibility, saving energy costs, and applying advanced defrost controls.
Partners Alter Engineers, Avida Energy, DMG North, Flow Environmental Systems, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, ProspectSV, and Straus Family Creamery are proud to be working together on the project, which, funded by the California Energy Commission, is a first of its kind.
The team will install and demonstrate Flow Environmental Systems’ ANSWR CO2 Heat Pump system at multiple cold storage sites used to store Straus Family Creamery’s premium organic ice cream, yogurt, and other dairy products at the creamery’s dairy manufacturing facility in Rohnert Park, California. The project kicks off in September 2024 and is expected to span a two and a half year period.
Flow Environmental Systems’ ANSWR is a 100% electric advanced heat pump that can operate as a cooler, freezer, chiller, and/or heat pump boiler with a single power feed and simultaneous heating and cooling. This integrated solution provides low temperature and medium temperature refrigeration by reclaiming heat from the refrigeration cycle to defrost for little to no energy. ANSWR™ also replaces fossil fuel and synthetic refrigerants with safe and efficient CO2 refrigerants. While advanced heat pumps have been used in residential settings, this is a first use case at the industrial commercial scale.
“Efficiency and carbon footprint reduction is at the core of Flow’s innovative heat pump design,” says Flow Chief Technology Officer Sean Jarvie. “Straus’ use of ANSWR to satisfy multiple heating and cooling processes makes the technology an ideal application that maximizes efficiency and reduces peak demand, resulting in beneficial impacts on costs, grid congestion, and the environment.”
Straus Family Creamery Vice President, Sustainability & Strategic Impact Joseph Button agreed: “We are tremendously excited that this project will drive operational efficiency improvements and climate impact reductions at the Creamery,” he says. “Even more, we are thrilled to help facilitate industry-wide advancement of this important climate solution through partnership, demonstration and shared learning.”
The project exemplifies Straus Family Creamery’s long-standing commitment to a climate positive future through industrial decarbonization, while facilitating the rapid rollout of an innovative heat pump that addresses carbon and peak load challenges faced by California’s industrial refrigeration sector. It carves a path to significantly improving efficiencies and flexibility in facilities where this has historically not been possible. Design resources from the project will be shared with building owners, engineers, general and mechanical contractors, architects, and other industry professionals.
