Effects of product usage scenarios on environmental performance for road transport refrigeration units.

A significant issue for the transport refrigeration industry is its high use of non-renewable energy for both motion and refrigeration. With the goal of reducing the environmental footprint, this study is focused on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Truck Refrigeration Units (TRU). Contrary to most studies about TRU, this study considers alternative impact categories, including energy consumption, refrigerant fluids and their associated impacts. The LCA reveals that the operation phase is a significant source of environmental impact, while the usage-scenario also has a high influence on the impact. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the weight of the transported product profile (frozen or fresh), type of transport (distribution or long haul) and the operating mode (continuous run, start/stop) on the environmental footprint of transport refrigeration. Finally, the LCA results highlight the necessity to consider the role of customer behavior on the environmental performance of transport refrigeration units.

冷藏运输行业面临的一项突出问题，在于其在车辆行驶与制冷环节均大量消耗不可再生能源。为降低环境足迹，本研究聚焦于卡车制冷单元（Truck Refrigeration Units，TRU）的全生命周期评估（Life Cycle Assessment，LCA）。与多数针对卡车制冷单元的研究不同，本研究纳入了更多维度的环境影响类别，涵盖能源消耗、制冷剂流体及其关联环境影响。全生命周期评估结果显示，运行阶段是环境影响的主要来源，而使用场景同样对环境影响程度存在显著影响。本研究旨在阐明：所运输货物的属性特征（冷冻或生鲜）、运输类型（配送运输或长途干线运输）以及运行模式（持续运转、启停循环），对冷藏运输环境足迹所产生的影响权重。最终，全生命周期评估结果凸显了考量用户行为对卡车制冷单元环境表现的影响的必要性。