A study commissioned by the German Research Council for Refrigeration Technology (Forschungsrat Kältetechnik eV - FKT) analyzed the energy consumption of the refrigeration sector in Germany in relation to the number of refrigeration units in the country, comparing data from 2009 and data of 2017.

The study, entitled "Energy demand for refrigeration technology in Germany", forms the basis for a detailed examination of refrigeration technology in Germany and shows the trends of technological development over time. In addition, it presents a detailed overview of the amount of energy demand and the number of refrigeration systems in the individual application sectors.

At the end of 2017, the number of refrigeration systems was over 144 million units. However, during the analyzed period the final energy demand linked to the refrigeration sector in Germany, only increased by 6% to reach 87TWh, despite the increase in refrigeration systems. 84% of this energy requirement was met by electricity. In total, 14% of electricity consumption in Germany is attributable to refrigeration applications. Overall (electric and non-electric), refrigeration technology represented 5.6% of Germany's primary energy demand in 2017.

Numbers in hand, the study shows that today additional applications of refrigeration technology, particularly in the heat pump sector, lead to an increase in energy demand. However, this increase can be largely offset by efficiency gains and thus contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions

This result is important because it demonstrates how the greater energy efficiency of appliances can effectively counter the increase in energy consumption due to the increase in appliances on the market.