Green CO₂ “peak shift” technology drives Coca-Cola to 100k units in Japan

Coca-Cola and CO₂ a match made in heaven

The push is part of Coke’s continued effort to reduce power consumption among its global fleet and address environmental issues associated with vending machines.

Peak shift vending machines employ CO₂ as the refrigerant as part of the company’s goal to phase our high-GWP hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in all vending machines on the Japanese market by 2020.

Natural refrigerants CO₂ and hydrocarbons are suitable solutions for small applications such as vending machines given their high pressure and the low refrigerant charge required.

Many vending machines still use HFCs, which Forbes magazine recently described as:

“Chemical hodgepodge that has an incredible power to cool the air. HFCs can also be 1,430 times more harmful to the climate than global warming’s main culprit, carbon dioxide.”

How does ‘peak shift’ technology work?

• The peak shift technology adjusts the hours vending machines use electricity from the daytime to nighttime, when supply demand is considerably lower
• The vending machines can therefore supply beverages for 24 hours without using any cooling for a maximum of 16 hours (7am – 11pm)
• The technology was first introduced by Coca-Cola in 1995 and cuts daytime power consumption by up to 95% by virtue of its innovative peak power cuts
• Insulation was improved by employing vacuum insulation materials, which are 10 times smaller and 10 times more efficient than polyurethane foam materials used in conventional vending machines

CO₂ and Coke pass another milestone

Coca-Cola started deploying the vending machines across Japan in 2013, installing 28,000 units in the first year and 60,000 by July of 2014. The company is now on target for 2020 targets after completing the installation of 100,000 units.

About the Coca-Cola system 

The Coca-Cola system in Japan is comprised of Coca-Cola (Japan) Co., Ltd., which supplies concentrates, plans and develops new products as the Japanese subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Company, along with seven nationwide bottling partners and three system affiliated companies. The Coca-Cola system services Japanese consumers with more than 50 sparkling and still beverage brands. Coca-Cola’s other innovative technologies include smaller compressors, heat pumps, solar power generation, LED lighting and motion sensors.