GLASGOW, United Kingdom, Sept. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Star Refrigeration has been recognised for its pioneering role in renewable energy, digital innovation and manufacturing leadership at the Made in Scotland Awards 2025. Organised by Scottish Business Insider, the award winners will be announced at a ceremony, which will take place on 25th September at Glasgow’s Voco Grand Central Hotel to celebrate Scotland’s most innovative companies, entrepreneurs, and manufacturers.

The company has secured a place on the shortlist in three of the award categories, reflecting the breadth of its impact in the UK industry.

Star Renewable Energy (SRE), the group’s specialist industrial heat pump company, has been nominated for the Energy and Renewables Manufacturer of the Year Award in recognition of its groundbreaking technology, which is transforming how buildings, industries and cities are cooled and heated through highly efficient, environmentally friendly natural refrigerant alternatives.

Credited with some of Europe’s landmark low-carbon district heating projects, SRE delivered the Drammen installation in Norway, which remains the world’s first and largest zero-carbon water source heat pump. In Scotland, the Queens Quay heat pump in Clydebank has shown how river water can be harnessed to provide affordable, renewable heat to the community and served as a model for the development of the sustainable city heating networks currently deployed in Bristol, Jarrow and Liverpool.

More recent innovations include steam-generating heat pumps capable of reaching 140°C to cut emissions in whisky distilling, and barge-mounted heat pumps designed to bring clean energy into urban district heating networks.

Star’s Ethos energy management system has been shortlisted for the Digital Technology Award in recognition of its ability to uncover hidden inefficiencies in industrial refrigeration and heating systems, delivering significant carbon savings for some of the UK’s best known companies.

Redefining how energy is managed in cooling dependent industries such as the cold chain, petrochemicals, data centres and district heating, Ethos combines engineering expertise with AI, digital twin technology and advanced algorithms to give operators full visibility of system performance. This has enabled some of the UK’s largest retailers to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions. For instance, Tesco cut energy use by 4 GWh and avoided 835 tonnes of CO₂ in under two years, while Asda saved 5 GWh and 1,100 tonnes of CO₂ across six sites in four years.

In 2024 alone, Ethos monitored 140,000 MWh of energy and delivered verified savings of 14,000 MWh and 2,600 tonnes of CO₂.

In the Outstanding Contribution to Manufacturing category, John Clark, Director of Star Refrigeration’s data monitoring and energy optimisation spin off, Star Data Analytics, has been recognised for his work in conceiving and developing the revolutionary Ethos system.

A Chartered Mechanical Engineer and software developer, John has combined cooling engineering knowledge with digital innovation to create a system that now supports more than 20 clients across 100+ sites and processes over 40 billion data points annually. Colleagues and customers describe him as an innovator whose work has set a new standard for energy performance optimisation across the industry.

Prof Dave Pearson, Group Sustainable Development Director at Star Refrigeration, said:

“We are delighted to have been shortlisted in three categories at the Made in Scotland Awards 2025. These nominations recognise the dedication of our people and the impact our technology has in helping industries cut carbon emissions, improve efficiency and build a sustainable future.

John’s vision in developing Ethos has brought a new level of innovation to industrial refrigeration and heating. His ability to merge technical knowledge with an understanding of customer needs and the power of machine learning, has transformed how the industry approaches energy management.”

The Made in Scotland Awards form part of Insider Media’s prestigious ‘Made in’ series, held across the UK to celebrate regional excellence in manufacturing. In Scotland, the awards recognise the companies and individuals driving innovation and growth in the sector, with winners going on to compete alongside their regional counterparts at the national Made in the UK Awards.

To find out more about the Made in Scotland awards, visit: https://www.insidermedia.com/event/made-in-scotland-awards-2025/shortlist

About Star Refrigeration

Founded in 1970, Star Refrigeration is the UK’s largest industrial refrigeration engineering company. With nine branches across the UK, two manufacturing facilities and around 400 employees, Star provides end-to-end services from design and manufacturing to commissioning and maintenance.

The Star Group includes Star Renewable Energy, a leader in industrial heat pump technology, and Star Data Analytics, specialists in data-driven performance optimisation. A pioneer of natural refrigerants and energy-efficient solutions, Star works with customers across food and drink, pharmaceuticals, cold storage, data centres and district heating, helping them reduce costs, cut carbon emissions and meet sustainability goals.