How do I calculate the emissions of supermarket display freezers and chillers?
Sub-meter the refrigerated cabinets, or take their share of the store bill, and multiply the kWh by 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh. Add refrigerant top-ups from service invoices as Scope 1. A meter shows how open and doored cabinets compare in your store.
Main loads
- Display freezers and chillers.
- Remote condensing units on the roof.
- Anti-sweat heaters on glass doors.
- Night blinds or their absence on open cabinets.
Refrigerant top-ups
Leaks from long pipe runs in remote systems can be large. Service invoices give the kilograms added, which go into Scope 1 at the gas's global warming potential.
Per store
Report refrigeration kWh per store and per square metre of sales floor, so stores of different sizes can be compared.
Worked example: one store's cabinets (one month, illustrative inputs)
- Electricity: 5,400 kWh x 0.710 = 3,834 kg CO2
- Display freezer and chiller cabinets: 12
- Total: 3,834 / 12 = 319.5 kg CO2 per cabinet a month
Inputs are illustrative; use a sub-meter or the cabinet energy labels.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads electricity bills (CEA grid factor 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, CO2 Baseline Database version 21.0) and diesel, LPG and gas invoices (IPCC 2006 defaults) into a dated, fingerprinted Scope 1 and 2 record for each site. Intensity per unit uses the activity count you enter, and estimates are labelled as estimates.
Sources: GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 21.0, IPCC AR6 WG1, Chapter 7, Table 7.15 (GWP100)
Last reviewed 2026-10-21.