Energy efficiency and environmental impact of small markets in Barranquilla-Colombia

This paper presents the identification of energy efficiency and environmental impact of small markets in the city of Barranquilla-Colombia. The aim of the research was to identify the usage patterns of electrical equipment, the energy efficiency of refrigeration, and the advance on the replacement of critical refrigerants. As important results, we found that although all the effort of environmental agencies to replace critical substances, small markets keepers still use equipment for cooling products with refrigerants that generate negative impacts on the environment. Also, market keepers do not apply energy efficiency plans to control the use of energy or guarantee the quality of products. We identified the need of a special plan focus on the habits of population in the Caribbean Region of Colombia. We proposed a financial method to replace refrigerators and improve energy efficiency and environmental impact.