Americold’s Secret to Surviving Power Outages
Americold’s SVP of Facilities & Engineering and Head of Sustainability, Brian Dunn, describes how insulated walls and roofs—15 to 20 times more than a household freezer—let its cold storage hold sub-zero temperatures for up to a week during total power outages. He says AI overrides reduced a unit’s runtime from about 100% to ~5%, and the program has been used in hurricane-related blackouts across multiple sites. Dunn also cites rising U.S. electricity prices.