To operate greener is to use less of our natural resources — renewable or non-renewable — to produce more products and services that affect our daily lives. It can apply to the products and services we use, to our factories and jobs, our homes, and our transportation. In case I forgot something, it can basically apply to just about everything.

In the air conditioning and refrigeration world, it applies to using less energy to cool our products and ourselves. Specifically, in the icemaker industry, it includes the materials and manufacturing processes, the component parts, product design and packaging. For the sake of discussion in this article, we'll focus on the final product. From the product standpoint, being green means to use less energy and water to produce and harvest ice for various commercial uses and for food consumption. We can all agree that using less energy and water is good for our environment. And, considering the cost of these resources; it's good for our wallets.

Standards Have Been Established

In the push towards greener living, many groups who are concerned with our environment have come together to promote better efficiencies in products and services. The California Energy Commission (CEC) was created in 2004. Where icemakers are concerned, the commission pushed for a reduction in electrical and water consumption in icemaker operation, to use fewer recourses to produce more ice. The CEC established specific efficiency standards and ratings for these products to make them more energy efficient. CEC compliance was made mandatory for icemaker products produced and sold in California beginning in January, 2008. The Federal government's Department of Energy (DOE) has adopted these standards and ratings, and passed legislation to make them mandatory on all icemaker products produced and sold nationwide after January 2010. Other agencies like Energy Star® — a joint program with the DOE and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — have also created ratings for appliance products including some icemakers. These ratings promote better energy efficiencies and less cost to consumers. Some states are allowing rebates if the icemaker meets CEC or Energy Star rating criteria.

Improved Designs Build in Efficiency

Icemaker efficiency starts with the system design. Ice machine companies have been working diligently in the last few years to design products that are more efficient, and that meet CEC and DOE compliance. At the same time, they try to meet Energy Star goals, so that they can carry the nationally-recognized Energy Star logo.

An ice machine has a basic refrigeration system with hot gas defrost components to harvest the ice and a water supply and circulation system. Like every refrigeration system, an icemaker has an evaporator “freezing surface,” a compressor, a metering device, and a condenser. These are the basic components necessary for a refrigeration system. In addition, a hot gas valve and harvest controls are added to the basic refrigeration components to release the ice from the freezing surface.

A Balanced System

The first concern in an efficient design is to assure that the basic refrigeration components are balanced properly. This, along with the optimum refrigerant type and charge, will provide the efficient operation and production of the icemaker. Adequate hot gas is required to heat the evaporator during harvest to release the ice with minimum meltage. To accomplish this, proper compressor discharge temperatures and hot gas valve sizing and distribution are important factors. Typically, the current refrigerant of choice for icemakers is either R-134A or R-404A. Either of these HFC blends can be used, but the most common would be R-404A. Icemaker design engineers are constantly looking for new more efficient refrigerants and component combinations so the refrigerant of choice may change in the future.