Star Technical Solutions director awarded IOR Kenneth Lightfoot Medal for landmark industrial refrigeration energy research

LONDON, Feb. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Dr Dermot Cotter, Managing Director of refrigeration and heating consultancy, Star Technical Solutions, has been awarded the Kenneth Lightfoot Medal by the Institute of Refrigeration, recognising his contribution to advancing understanding of energy use and emissions in the UK industrial refrigeration sector.

The medal was presented at the Institute of Refrigeration Annual Dinner in London on February 12^th and was awarded jointly to Dr Cotter and Dr Catarina Marques, Senior Research Fellow at London South Bank University.

The award recognises their paper, ‘Energy Usage in the Industrial Refrigeration Sector: Food, Drink, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Refrigeration’, produced as part of a UK government-funded research initiative aimed at analysing the opportunities to reduce carbon emissions from refrigeration equipment in the transport, industrial and commercial refrigeration (TICR) sectors.

The paper represents one of the most detailed examinations to date of how industrial refrigeration systems are actually operated in practice, based on engineering site surveys across food, drink, chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities. Rather than relying on modelling assumptions or self-reported data, the research draws on measured energy use, operating conditions, system design choices and maintenance practices observed directly on live industrial sites.

The findings highlight that refrigeration energy use and emissions across UK industry are systematically under-measured and poorly understood, with only a small proportion of surveyed sites having effective sub-metering in place, and fewer still using that data to actively manage performance. As a result, refrigeration efficiency is often overlooked in energy audits and decarbonisation strategies, despite accounting for a significant share of site electricity demand.

The research findings demonstrate that substantial energy and carbon savings are achievable without extensive system replacement. Across multiple sites, the authors identified opportunities to reduce compressor power by 20%-50%, arising from relatively simple issues such as fouled heat exchangers, conservative operating setpoints, and legacy design assumptions that fail to account for current operating conditions. Crucially, the paper shows that modest changes at the system design or maintenance stages could deliver payback periods of less than one year.

Challenging industry norms around refrigeration design, the paper shows how commonly specified evaporating temperatures for process equipment can unnecessarily lock in inefficiency for decades, a problem that could have been avoided with a slightly higher capital investment to reduce lifetime energy consumption. Based on real data, the authors demonstrate that these design decisions, combined with a lack of real-time operational data and specialised maintenance routines, are constraining progress towards Net Zero across some of the UK’s most energy intensive manufacturing sectors.

Dr Cotter, MD at Star Technical Solutions, said, “This work was about understanding what is really happening on industrial sites, not what we assume is happening. Refrigeration is essential to food security, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing, but it has historically been treated as background infrastructure rather than a mission-critical asset for delivering net zero. The evidence shows there are clear, practical opportunities to reduce energy use and emissions, but only if performance is properly measured, understood and prioritised.”

As part of the award, the £500 prize fund has been donated back to the Institute of Refrigeration to support training and skills development within the sector.

The recognition reflects Star Technical Solutions’ growing support for providing independent, evidence-based insight to industry, policymakers and regulators. Further guidance and sector roadmaps arising from the TICR programme are due to be published later this year, helping manufacturers translate research findings into practical action.

To find out more about the TICR project visit https://netzerorefrigeration.uk/

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SOURCE Star Refrigeration