Almost everyone knows what a refrigerator is. Most people have one in their home. This is an appliance that helps to keep your cold things cold. Most refrigerators also have an attached freezer – the part that keeps things frozen.
There are many facts that people don’t know about refrigerators. These little-known facts are interesting and will entertain you and your friends for minutes upon minutes. You can learn more facts by doing some research.
If you do your research, you can find more information about refrigeration itself. You can also learn about kjøleskap strømforbruk if that is what you are looking for. You can learn all about refrigerators and their power systems.
This article will give you information about refrigerators and refrigeration. There will be cool facts that you might not have known before. You can also learn more if you do research on the subject.
Cool Facts About Refrigerators and Refrigeration
Not a New Industry – Refrigeration has been around since ancient times. In ancient times, China stored ice in isolated containers after being harvested in the nearby mountains. Hebrews, Romans, and Greeks all had underground storage pits full of snow. The Romans were known for having fresh ice cream on a regular basis.
In Emperor Nero’s lifetime, there was a chain of runners between Rome and Albanian Berger so that he could have ice cream regularly. This was a way to keep the ice cream cold and fresh so that he could have it when he wanted it.
In the Middle Ages, saltpeter was dissolved in long-necked bottles that were then rotated. This was a painstaking process, so ice and cold beverages were relegated to the rich. Common people stored their butter and milk in underground cellars, window boxes, or underwater.
Things began to change in North America after the Civil War. In the older days, the American diet was mostly bread and salted meats. After the Civil War, consumers wanted fresh foods such as fresh milk, meat, fish, vegetables, and fruits. When the cities grew, so did the distance between consumers and fresh food.
In the early 1900’s, natural ice became a huge commodity. In 1907 alone, there were about fifteen tons of ice that were consumed. This was triple the amount that was used in 1880. Soon, natural ice was being contaminated by sewage.
Diet changed with the advent of refrigeration, people could now have fresh meat, milk, fruits, and vegetables any time of the year and not just during the winter. This caused the quality of meat to improve. This also caused Americans to have a better diet.
Innovations
In 1867, JB Sutherland of Detroit, Michigan patented the first refrigerated railroad car design: https://www.milesfiberglass.com/the-history-of-refrigerated-railcars. This created specialty cars for different areas of the country. These specialty cars were used for Georgia peaches, California grapes, Washington apples, and Florida citrus, among others. The fresh food markets allowed for a healthier diet.
In November of 1930, Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard patented the Einstein Refrigerator. This design had no moving parts. It was operated at a constant pressure using only heat.
Many industries relied on the new refrigeration systems including sugar mills, confectionaries, tea companies, bakeries, and chocolate factories. Some other industries that were helped refrigeration were metalworking, textile mills, and oil refineries. They used it in many different ways including helping to temper cutlery and tools for metalworking and bleaching and dyeing for the textile industry.
One way that refrigeration was used is quite morbid – it is used at the morgue for preserving human bodies. This helped people to be buried at a later date so that friends and family could come to the burial. Of course, there were other ways that refrigeration was used that weren’t quite as morbid.
In the Home
Refrigerators took a while to make it home. People were still using ice to cool their items and most had an ice box that held the ice. They would let the ice man know when they needed ice by displaying signs outside their homes. These boxes were lined with zinc or tin, along with sawdust or seaweed.
The first refrigerator for the home was made in the 1920’s by Fred W. Wolf. They weren’t used commonly in homes until the 1940’s. This was because the refrigerators used gases that could be deadly. It wasn’t until the 1930’s that Freon was introduced, and they became safer for the home.
It wasn’t until the 1950’s that refrigerators became a common household item. By then, ninety percent of American had one in the home. The icebox survived but became the freezer department.
More Uses
In today’s world there are more uses for refrigeration than just home appliances. Aside from the food industry, you can find refrigeration in healthcare, the environment, and energy industries. Because it is used in so many industries, it has become a much more complex entity.
The refrigeration industry has grown significantly throughout the years. It reaches about every company and every home in the world. There is some sort of refrigeration used almost everywhere, even in the smallest towns and cities.
This industry is continuing to grow and will be everywhere in the world before it all ends. The popularity of this industry will also continue to grow as more people want air conditioning in their home and their food to be cold all year long. There will be billions of people using some form of refrigerant.
Around the world, there are around three billion refrigeration, heat pumping, and AC systems. There are one and a half billion refrigerators domestically. This means that almost every home has some sort of refrigeration in it.
The Industry Grows
There are approximately twelve million people employed in the refrigeration industry. The market size is valued at about twenty-eight billion dollars – a number that is estimated to be about thirty-five billion dollars by 2027. That’s a lot of money spent on refrigeration.
There are one and a half billion home refrigerators and ninety million commercial appliances. There are forty-seven million beverage coolers and vending machines. This is growing at a rate of about five percent.
Challenges
There are challenges that are being faced by the industry. These challenges are making it difficult for businesses to succeed. The most common challenges are listed below.
A lack of proper maintenance is one of the first challenges. As the number of the appliances and the complexity of them increases, the breakdown of air conditioning and refrigeration equipment has become an issue. There are many reasons that these items break down, but lack of maintenance is the biggest reason.
Mechanical breakdowns and electrical breakdowns are the biggest reasons. Mechanical breakdowns are about thirty percent of the issue. Electrical breakdowns represent sixty percent of the issue.
In the 1970’s Freon was banned in the United States, along with other greenhouse gases. They were banned because they damage the ozone layer over the Earth. R-134a is what is commonly used today.
Refrigeration represents about fifteen percent of global electricity use. Issues with it are linked with electricity issues. One of these issues is global warming since most electricity still comes from fossil fuels.
Newer sources of electricity are more expensive than fossil fuels so using this technology is still expensive. It can drive up the use of different types of electricity from solar or liquified gas technology. The industry is trying to improve, but it will take a while for the electricity industry to catch up.
Many countries around the world are trying to reduce HFC, or hydrofluorocarbon, emissions. The biggest reason that these are so high is the refrigeration industry and air conditioning equipment. These account for about sixty percent of the damage to the ozone level.
More environmentally friendly and natural refrigerants are being used to replace HFCs. The biggest problem with these is that they can be more dangerous to technicians. This has called for a demand for skilled workers with proper safety training to mitigate the risks.
There is already a lack of skilled technicians in this industry. This is mainly due to an aging workforce, competition, and the amount of time it takes to become skilled. This can actually pose a safety concern because the industry is being forced to use less qualified workers.
There is more to growth in the industry than technology in the home, restaurant, or industrial plants. There is more refrigeration equipment being used for food processing, pharmaceuticals, cold storage, petrochemicals, and liquified natural gas liquification. These areas of industry are most using this equipment.
Before the pandemic, people relied on packed, processed, and frozen ready-to-eat foods. After the pandemic, people changed their habits and began to want more fresh and healthier foods. This led to an increase in stand-alone freezers sold to retailers.
Due to the newer refrigeration technology, fresh fruit can be enjoyed any time of the year. Also because of this, home delivery has increased by nearly five hundred percent. Consumers want that fresh food delivered straight to their homes.
The refrigeration industry has shown no signs of slowing down in the future. Even as people became more mobile after the pandemic, interest in delivery services has remained high. Refrigeration will continue to improve as this becomes even more common.
Conclusion
The refrigeration industry has grown significantly since its beginnings in ancient times. We can now have fresh food and cold air in our homes at any time during the year. The industry will continue to grow and offer consumers new things.
This industry will only continue to grow in the future with no end in sight. It will only improve with the people who are working in the industry. There will be nothing that can stop it.
