What proportion of a cold store's energy bill is refrigeration?

Commonly cited at 70–80% in industry literature. This is a widely repeated estimate, not an Australian government statistic specific to local cold stores, so treat it as indicative rather than precise.

Why does refrigeration dominate a cold store's energy use so heavily?

Because it runs continuously against a constant temperature differential, working against heat gain from the building envelope, door openings and deliveries around the clock — unlike lighting or general HVAC, which are intermittent draws.

Is a lighting or HVAC upgrade still worth doing in a cold store?

Yes, but expect it to move the total energy bill by far less than a refrigeration-focused review, given the proportion refrigeration actually holds.

Can a building fault show up as a refrigeration cost even if the plant itself is fine?

Yes — a leaking door seal or undersized air curtain forces the compressor to work harder to hold temperature, so the extra cost appears on the refrigeration line even though the fault is in the building envelope.

Where the energy actually goes in a cold store

A cold storage facility's energy bill is not spread evenly across lighting, HVAC and refrigeration. One system dominates, by a wide margin, and knowing that changes where an energy review should actually start.

Last updated 2026-08-24

The dominant line item

Refrigeration compressors are commonly cited as accounting for 70–80% of a cold store's total energy use — a figure worth stating plainly here, but also worth being precise about: this is an industry rule of thumb repeated consistently across vendor and cold-chain literature, not an Australian government or Australian Bureau of Statistics figure specific to this country's cold-store fleet. No Australia-specific breakdown of cold-store energy use by end-use was located to confirm the exact percentage locally, so treat 70–80% as a reasonable planning estimate rather than a precise national statistic.

Even allowing for that caveat, the scale of the gap is not really in question — nobody in the industry argues lighting or general HVAC comes close to refrigeration's share in a genuine cold store. It is the size of the majority, not its existence, that carries the uncertainty.

Why refrigeration dominates the way it does

Unlike lighting or general space heating, refrigeration in a cold store runs continuously, against a temperature differential the building is always fighting to hold — every door opening, every delivery, every degree of ambient heat gain through the envelope is a load the compressor has to work against, around the clock, every day of the year. Lighting and general services, by contrast, are intermittent and comparatively small draws against that constant load. Insulation quality and door sealing are set largely at the building specification stage, which is why retrofitting a poorly specified envelope is so much harder than getting it right at design.

This is also why refrigeration plant age and condition matter more in a cold store than almost any other building system decision. A compressor running an outdated or leaking refrigerant charge is not a minor inefficiency sitting alongside other minor inefficiencies — it is inefficiency in the system responsible for most of the bill, which is covered in more detail in the refrigerant phase-down and what it means for ageing plant.

What this means for where a review should start

An energy review that spends equal time on lighting upgrades, HVAC scheduling and refrigeration tuning is spending its time in the wrong proportion for a cold store, given the share refrigeration actually holds. The building envelope matters too — a leaking door seal or an undersized air curtain forces the compressor to work harder to hold temperature, which shows up as a refrigeration cost even though the actual fault sits in the fabric of the building rather than the plant itself.

This does not mean lighting and HVAC upgrades are wasted effort — they are still worth doing, and they are usually cheaper and faster to action. It means expecting them to move the total bill by anything close to what a refrigeration-focused review can move it is the wrong expectation to set going in. It is also a reason to weigh the energy case alongside the operational case in general warehouse energy cost management rather than treating a cold store as just a colder version of a standard distribution centre.

Refrigeration commonly cited at 70–80% of a cold store's energy use (industry estimate)
The figure is not an Australian government statistic — no confirmed local breakdown exists
Refrigeration runs continuously against a constant temperature differential
Building envelope faults (door seals, air curtains) show up as refrigeration cost even when the fault is structural

Where demand charges make it worse

Because refrigeration compressors cycle on and off independently of everything else in the building, a cold store is a particularly easy place to accidentally create the kind of peak covered in warehouse demand charges — a defrost cycle finishing at the same time as forklift chargers switch on, for instance, can set a demand charge for the whole month even though the total energy used that half-hour was unremarkable. A cold store energy review is rarely complete without checking both the total-consumption story this page covers and the peak-demand story covered separately, alongside how a NABERS rating scores the same set of systems as a single comparable figure.

Common questions

What proportion of a cold store's energy bill is refrigeration?: Commonly cited at 70–80% in industry literature. This is a widely repeated estimate, not an Australian government statistic specific to local cold stores, so treat it as indicative rather than precise.
Why does refrigeration dominate a cold store's energy use so heavily?: Because it runs continuously against a constant temperature differential, working against heat gain from the building envelope, door openings and deliveries around the clock — unlike lighting or general HVAC, which are intermittent draws.
Is a lighting or HVAC upgrade still worth doing in a cold store?: Yes, but expect it to move the total energy bill by far less than a refrigeration-focused review, given the proportion refrigeration actually holds.
Can a building fault show up as a refrigeration cost even if the plant itself is fine?: Yes — a leaking door seal or undersized air curtain forces the compressor to work harder to hold temperature, so the extra cost appears on the refrigeration line even though the fault is in the building envelope.

Sources

ASI Doors — 5 Ways to Reduce Energy Costs in Cold Storage Warehouses — Source of the commonly cited 70–80% refrigeration energy-share figure. An industry/vendor estimate, not an Australian government statistic.

Part of our guide to energy and gas costs for warehouses.