Retail food stores and supermarkets operate their refrigeration systems continuously to maintain proper
food storage conditions within their refrigerated display cases and storage areas. The continual
operation of this equipment accounts for approximately 50% of the total electrical energy consumption
of a typical supermarket (Westphalen, et al. 1996). Furthermore, a significant amount of waste heat is
rejected by the condensers of supermarket refrigeration systems. Unfortunately, this waste heat is of
low quality, meaning that its temperature is low. Thus, practical uses of waste heat from supermarket
refrigeration systems are typically limited to space heating and water heating.